the little stranger movie review

Advertisement

Supported by

Review: In ‘The Little Stranger,’ a Haunted House and a Fading Way of Life

• Share full article

By A.O. Scott

• Aug. 30, 2018

Hundreds Hall is the name of a grand pile of brick in Warwickshire, England, and if you’re moderately familiar with movies and television — “Downton Abbey,” “Crimson Peak,” the “Ghostbusters” reboot — you have no doubt seen hundreds like it. Its sprawling grounds and cavernous rooms evoke ancient aristocratic privilege, but by the late 1940s, when “The Little Stranger” takes place, that grandeur has begun to fade.

Dr. Faraday — we never seem to catch his first name — remembers it well. An ambitious provincial physician whose mother worked as a maid during the house’s glory days under the Ayres family, he looks back fondly on a summer day he spent there in 1919, when he was 8 years old and local commoners were invited to a fair. Now he finds himself treating the remaining members of the Ayreses, who are barely hanging onto their fast-decaying ancestral home.

Faraday (Domhnall Gleeson) is haunted by Hundreds Hall. The Hall itself also seems to be haunted, though it’s not always clear by what or whom. The best guess seems to be a little girl named Suki Ayres, who died shortly after Faraday’s long-ago visit. Her mother (Charlotte Rampling) still lives there, along with her two surviving, grown-up children: Roderick (Will Poulter), who was badly wounded in World War II, and Caroline (Ruth Wilson), “the cleverest of the lot” (according to a family friend), who drifts toward eccentric spinsterhood. The staff has been winnowed to one, a young woman named Betty (Liv Hill), who figures out that something creepy is going on long before anyone else seems to have a clue.

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson (“Room”) and adapted by Lucinda Coxon from Sarah Waters’s skillfully written Gothic novel , “The Little Stranger” is for much of its running time more interested in the sociological and psychological implications of Faraday’s encounter with the Ayreses and their real estate than with any overtly supernatural doings. Faraday, who serves as a possibly unreliable voice-over narrator, is buttoned up as tight as a waistcoat, only sometimes betraying the ruthless effort that his sang-froid requires. He is always aware of being an interloper — a commoner promoted to “one of us” ironically or in emergencies — and his attempts to fit in make this strangeness more glaring.

Mr. Gleeson is adept at this double game. His face is as sharp as a hawk’s but somehow also as soft and unformed as a fledgling sparrow’s. Faraday makes a practice of keeping all feeling in check, presenting himself both as a rational man of science and as the possessor of an exemplary stiff upper lip. As news of the political weather buzzes in the background — the advent of the National Health Service; land sales and tax policies promoted by Clement Attlee’s Labour government — Faraday mourns the waning of old ruling-class prerogatives more plangently than the Ayreses themselves, who would seem to have more to lose. His loyalty to them is more than they deserve or desire.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

Peeling Back the True Horror of The Little Stranger

There’s a sinister secret nested snugly at the center of Lenny Abrahamson’s “ The Little Stranger .” In trailers, this adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel seems a spooky haunted house tale set in the austere decadence of early Windsor-era England. For most of its runtime, the film appears a gothic romance in which the mild-mannered Doctor Faraday ( Domhnall Gleeson ) must combat the unknown evil inhabiting the illustrious Hundreds Hall so he might marry its gruff but lovable heiress, Caroline Ayres ( Ruth Wilson ). But the haunting final image of “The Little Stranger” reveals something more cerebral and starkly feminist is at play within this unconventional horror story.

“The Little Stranger” reveals the Ayres tragedy through the eyes of Faraday, a “common village boy” who grew up in the shadow of Hundreds Hall and became a respected doctor with a gentleman’s manners. Through a reserved voiceover, he introduces audiences to the once affluent family whose fortunes have fallen—as their once pristine home has—into ruin. Still, Faraday is enchanted by the old house and by Caroline, a “terribly brainy girl” on the verge of spinsterhood, having squandered her promise and youth looking after her mother ( Charlotte Rampling ) and war-wounded brother Roderick ( Will Poulter ). Stoic and stalwart, Faraday provides a shoulder to cry on, a voice of reason, and even his hand in marriage. But he is not to be trusted by the Ayres or us. For Faraday is not the romantic hero he paints himself as, but an unreliable narrator and the source of the spiteful spirit that torments the Ayres to death because of a ferocious form of toxic masculinity.

The final shot of the film reveals that the poltergeist of Hundreds Halls was a manifestation of Faraday’s decades-long desire to possess the grand home. His passion for the place grew into an intense sense of male entitlement, believing deeply he was owed the thing as a reward for wanting it so desperately. And so a territorial and violent force was sparked. Over drinks, a colleague explains that extreme negative emotions can cause a subconscious break that could birth a poltergeist. For Faraday, this fateful moment occurred 30 years before, when he first snuck into the exquisite foyer of Hundreds Hall and broke a plaster acorn from its elaborate décor. In flashback, a foreboding rumbling precedes the horrid crack of plaster. Recalling it to Caroline, he rationalizes, “I wasn’t trying to vandalize. I was overcome.” Faraday compares himself to a lovesick man stealing a lock of hair from the woman he fancies. Caught up in his own desires, he ignores the violation and theft entailed in each act, reframing it as romantic and himself as the helpless victim of passion. As absurd as it seems, Faraday basically victim blames the house for his violation of it, suggesting Hundreds Hall was dressed too provocatively to be left unmolested.

Faraday believes his passion for the house excuses this crime. But there will be more. And they will become more violent. The first victim of his poltergeist is young Suki Ayres, punished for witnessing his embarrassment at being slapped by his mother for his vandalism. Mrs. Ayres notes that was the very day her beloved first-born became mysteriously ill, before withering away to death. While Faraday went off to grow up and become a doctor, his poltergeist has lurked in the house, quietly resenting its residents. Upon his return to the village, the paranormal activity at the Hundreds Hall becomes more aggressive, a coincidence Caroline remarks on without understanding its significance. It was a poltergeist outburst that led to Betty calling for a doctor, which brought Faraday to the Ayres door. Every paranormal event after that can be seen as violent retaliations whenever Faraday feels rejected.

The first comes during a cocktail party, where a little girl is abruptly mauled by Caroline’s dog. The timing suggests this is no accident. Though the girl has been pestering the pet relentlessly, its off-screen attack occurs the moment after Faraday realizes the event is a matchmaking setup meant to pair Caroline with an arrogant, new-money ad-man. The hurt to his pride is taken out on the pretty blond girl, just as it was with Suki. The gruesome and inexplicable assault benefits Faraday three-fold. It scares off the would-be suitor, gives the doctor a chance to impress by swooping in to mend the wounded child, and offers an excuse to euthanize Caroline’s beloved pet, eliminating one more rival for her affections. Whether Faraday realizes it or not, he is working in tandem with his poltergeist to achieve Hundreds Hall. When the polite and socially acceptable methods fail, his subconscious lashes out in violence. And their next obstacle and target will be Rod.

Through voiceover, Faraday expresses a thinly veiled disdain for the limping man of the house, sneering, “I couldn’t help but think the house deserved better.” Implied is that Faraday is the better the house deserves. After all, Faraday is a dapper and dashing gentleman, while Rod a marred, drunken recluse with no hopes of finding a wife. Using his position as a trusted friend of the family and respected doctor, Faraday pushes to have Rod committed, arguing his plans to sell off part of the estate are deranged. When this fails, his poltergeist sets Rod’s bedroom ablaze, nearly killing him and making him seem an unhinged danger to himself and others. So, Mrs. Ayres and Caroline take Faraday’s recommendation and have their lone male heir exiled. The very next scene shows Faraday, smiling like the cat who caught the canary, as he cuts the Christmas roast. Blithely taking over the role of man of the house, he rejoices in voiceover, “It made me feel—just for a moment—a part of the life of the house.”

With Rod out of the way, Faraday ramps up his efforts to woo and wed Caroline, taking her to a dance, where his POV shot of watching her dance feels ominous, like a predator zeroing in on his prey. “What the house needs is a dose of happiness,” he crows in his marriage proposal. But after Mrs. Ayres makes it clear that Faraday would only get this house over her dead body, his poltergeist terrorizes her with chilling sounds and vicious cuts, driving her to suicide. And once Caroline rejects him too, her death is imminent.

After she breaks off their engagement, Faraday laments, “Hundreds Hall was lost to me … as was Caroline.” At this moment, our unreliable narrator’s true priorities are laid bare. This was never a love story about boy meets girl, but boy meets house. Caroline was a tool to him. That the object of Faraday’s desires is a house and not actually Caroline emphasizes the dehumanizing nature of male entitlement, as entitled men do not regard the women they crave as people who have autonomy and the right to reject them, but as a thing they can grab. Their desire outweighs the feelings of its object. But once Faraday realizes that his manipulations and social niceties have failed to win him the prize of the girl—and by extension the house—his cool veneer cracks, unleashing into a flurry of fists and shouting in his car while his poltergeist pushes Caroline to her fatal fall off the balcony.

Through his plaintive voiceover, Faraday would have us believe that he is a romantic hero who fought for love and lost. He and his poltergeist never come face-to-face in the film, so perhaps he truly believes it. But “The Little Stranger” sees through his subterfuge. For even if Faraday is completely ignorant of how his true intentions influence the poltergeist, he knowingly uses his position of power as a doctor, a friend, and a gentleman to manipulate the Ayres to reach for his goal, no matter the cost. Yet there are moments where it seems he has some hint.

Looking back on his first day at Hundreds Hall, Faraday says, “I could not help but imagine I belonged. A proper little gentleman. Of course, I was no such thing.” On the surface, it appears he’s speaking about how his clothes made this commoner seem suitably posh. But on reflection, this line also speaks to his façade of gentility in adulthood. Outwardly, Faraday is calm, patient, and magnanimous toward the Ayres family. Hidden is his dangerous dark side that would rather see them dead than reject him, that would rather see Hundreds Hall abandoned than without him. Worse still, Faraday gets away with all his crimes, because who would believe such a nice, respectable man could be capable of such evil?

“The Little Stranger” is a horror story not about evil spirits or haunted houses, but about the too real terror born from toxic masculinity, which blinds men to their trespasses and threatens women with objectification and violence. The film sounds a warning, begging some to look past the nice guy veneers, and others to search the darkest corners of their desires. For we are not always the heroes we imagine ourselves to be.  

Kristy Puchko

Kristy Puchko is a New York-based film critic and entertainment reporter whose work has appeared on RogerEbert.com, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Vulture, Mel Magazine, The Playlist, IGN, and Pajiba.

Leave a comment

Related articles.

The Steady, Inevitable Decline: Sideways at 20

Bright Wall/Dark Room October 2024: All Hail the Screwball Queen by Olympia Kiriakou

Panic! At the Disco: Body Double at 40

30 Minutes On: Talk Radio

Popular reviews.

The Exorcism

The Secret Art of Human Flight

Transformers One

The best movie reviews, in your inbox

• UK Politics
• News Videos
• Paris 2024 Olympics
• Rugby Union
• Sport Videos
• John Rentoul
• Mary Dejevsky
• Andrew Grice
• Sean O’Grady
• Photography
• Theatre & Dance
• Culture Videos
• Fitness & Wellbeing
• Food & Drink
• Health & Families
• Royal Family
• Electric Vehicles
• Car Insurance Deals
• Lifestyle Videos
• Hotel Reviews
• News & Advice
• Simon Calder
• Australia & New Zealand
• South America
• C. America & Caribbean
• Middle East
• Politics Explained
• News Analysis
• Today’s Edition
• Home & Garden
• Broadband deals
• Fashion & Beauty
• Travel & Outdoors
• Sports & Fitness
• Climate 100
• Sustainable Living
• Climate Videos
• Solar Panels
• Behind The Headlines
• On The Ground
• Decomplicated
• You Ask The Questions
• Binge Watch
• Travel Smart
• Watch on your TV
• Crosswords & Puzzles
• Most Commented
• Newsletters
• Ask Me Anything
• Virtual Events
• Wine Offers
• Betting Sites
• Casino Sites

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

The Little Stranger review: One of the most original British horror films of recent times

Based on the novel by sarah waters, this is a story about class, envy and self-loathing, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey

Get our the life cinematic email for free.

Dir: Lenny Abrahamson; Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter, Charlotte Rampling. Cert 12A, 111 mins

The Little Stranger is one of the most original British horror films of recent times – although whether it can really be classified as horror is a moot point. Based on the novel by Sarah Waters, this is a story about class, envy and self-loathing.

It is set in the austerity-era Britain of 1948, when the country was in debt and drained of colour and when the old aristocracy was on its knees. Beautifully directed by Lenny Abrahamson, the film evokes this period in a way that is both nostalgic and frequently chilling.

Domhnall Gleeson plays the youngish Dr Faraday, an aloof and diffident figure who has opportunities in Clement Attlee’s Britain that would have been denied him before the war. He is from a very humble background, the son of a housemaid, but has risen up the social scale and is now a fully qualified country doctor.

Faraday has a morbid obsession with Hundreds, the decaying, Brideshead-like pile where his mother worked before he was born. He has vivid memories of visiting the country house for an Empire Day celebration as a child in 1919 when it was still in its pomp. His mother had friends working there and he was allowed inside. What he can’t acknowledge, and what the film takes a long time to tell us about, is his vicious resentment and loathing of his upper class patrons.

Abrahamson shows Gleeson as the type who will always lurk in the corner at any social event. He is an awkward and repressed man but seemingly a decent and sympathetic one. With his red hair and pale face, he is not handsome at all. Nor is he charming but he does have a good bedside manner. He is the type others feel comfortable confiding in but who will rarely share any secrets about himself.

The Ayres family, the owners of Hundreds, are in dire financial straits. They can’t afford the death duties on the house. The son of the family, Roderick (Will Poulter), is scarred and near crippled by war wounds. The mother, Mrs Ayres (Charlotte Rampling) is haughty in a Miss Havisham-like way but even she is struggling to keep up appearances.

The daughter, Caroline (Ruth Wilson), is spirited and intelligent but seems to have been left behind by the world. Their once grand home isn’t just shabby and falling apart. It appears to be haunted. Mrs Ayres’ beloved daughter Susan (‘Suki’), who came face to face with Faraday on his visit to the house, died as a child. Her spirit seems to be behind the strange and terrifying happenings in the house.

Abrahamson shows an anthropologist’s eye in the detail with which he depicts the aristocratic family fallen on hard times but desperately trying to cling to its status and dignity. The Ayres can’t pay their bills. They’ve lost the “trick of company” but they have their codes of behaviour.

Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days

New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled

Try as he might, Faraday can’t crack them. In their eyes, he will always be a “common village boy.” Lucinda Coxon’s screenplay picks up on the tiny mannerisms and tics of speech that distinguish the Ayres from less well-born outsiders like Faraday.

This is as much an account of a thwarted love affair as it is a ghost story. If it wasn’t so awkward, there would be a certain humour in Faraday’s courtship of Caroline. He is gauche but very dogged. The misfortunes that multiply around her give him his chance. It is not clear, though, whether he is in love with her or is looking to control her.

The mood here is similar to that in The Innocents , Jack Clayton’s film adaptation of Henry James’ The Turn Of The Screw . We don’t see any monsters. The terror is in the minds of the protagonists.

Abrahamson includes a few familiar devices from more conventional haunted house stories – bells in the servants’ quarters that ring of their own accord, doors that will suddenly slam shut, fires that start from nowhere. Generally, though, the creaks aren’t in the night but are in the tormented psyches of the film’s main protagonists.

The Little Stranger doesn’t scare us as often as might have been expected but it is still a disturbing affair. It’s a ghost story in which politics, class and money are the most frightening elements. Domhnall Gleeson may be best known for playing General Hux in Star Wars but he was superb as the traumatised, shell-shocked AA Milne in last year’s Goodbye Christopher Robin .

He gives an equally affecting performance here as the repressed and uptight Dr Faraday. He is matched by Ruth Wilson as Caroline, the “awfully brainy” upper class girl treated in such chauvinistic fashion by all the men around her. Wilson shows us Caroline’s resilience, her passion and her fatalism. She is as much a prisoner in the house as any princess in a castle in a fairy tale.

The Little Stranger has received a very muted response in the US, where it was released late last month. It is too idiosyncratic and subdued to appeal to fans of the teen-oriented horror movies that dominate the box office. Abrahamson’s approach is the polar opposite to that found in Jason Blum movies. This, though, is a consummately crafted and very subtle film which ends with quite a kick.

'The Little Stranger' is in cinemas from 21 September

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Little Stranger

After a doctor is called to visit a crumbling manor, strange things begin to occur. After a doctor is called to visit a crumbling manor, strange things begin to occur. After a doctor is called to visit a crumbling manor, strange things begin to occur.

• Lenny Abrahamson
• Lucinda Coxon
• Sarah Waters
• Domhnall Gleeson
• Will Poulter
• Ruth Wilson
• 174 User reviews
• 96 Critic reviews
• 67 Metascore
• 5 nominations

Top cast 78

• Dr. Faraday

• Roderick Ayres

• Caroline Ayres

• Young Faraday
• (as Oliver Zetterstrom)

• Elizabeth Faraday
• Faraday's Father

• Young Mrs Ayres

• Susan Ayres

• Colonel Ayres
• Young Boy at Fete

• Photographer

• Dr. Granger

• Anne Granger

• Miss Dabney

• Mr. Rossiter

• Mrs. Rossiter
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Will Poulter spent 5-6 hours every day in the make-up chair getting his burn prosthetics applied, and another hour getting it removed. He said that he actually found the hour-long removal more uncomfortable than all the hours of putting it on.
• Goofs Early on, Domhnall Gleeson's character confesses to having "snuck up" into the house once as a child. No Brit of the time would have said "snuck", which is an Americanism that has only recently been creeping into British English. "Sneaked up" or "sneaked in".

Faraday : What this house needs is a big dose of happiness.

• Connections Featured in Film 24: Episode dated 21 September 2018 (2018)
• Soundtracks Oyster Girl Traditional Published by Pathé Productions Limited administered by EMI Music Publishing Arranged and Performed by Saul Rose

User reviews 174

• Sep 2, 2018
• How long is The Little Stranger? Powered by Alexa
• September 21, 2018 (United Kingdom)
• United Kingdom
• Official Facebook
• Official site
• Küçük Yabancı
• Market Square, Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (Granger and Faraday's Surgery)
• Focus Features International (FFI)
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 51 minutes
• Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed.

The Little Stranger Review

Subtlety is often a defining element for a horror movie. There are thousands of bombastic, scream-in-your face features that take the intensity to 11 at the start and break off the knob; but those titles can be balanced by stories that are not so much about shrieks and scares, but instead sending chills down the spine. Both have equal merit, but also attract audiences on different sides of the spectrum: some don't go to the movies to feel like they've bathed in blood, and others don't have the patience for slow-burn. If you're a person who fits into the latter category, Lenny Abrahamson's The Little Stranger may not be for you; however, if you're tastes gravitate towards haunting mysteries about the depths and darkness of human desire, however, then this is a film to which you should sprint.

The work marks Abrahamson's debut in the genre -- the filmmaker in the past few years bringing us the delightfully oddball comedy Frank , and the powerful, Oscar-winning drama Room -- and what he weaves is a spectacularly atmospheric, engaging, and twisting tale that packs an ending that will have you talking for days. It's deliberate in its storytelling, and may not fully satisfy those who watch horror for the bloodletting, but those willing to invest in it will be immensely rewarded, as it's a rich cinematic experience that is sullenly gorgeous, challenging, and even surprisingly relevant in its themes.

Adapted by Lucinda Coxon, based on the novel of the same name by author Sarah Waters, The Little Stranger transports us back to the 1940s in Warwickshire, England, finding a straight-laced, stoic doctor named Faraday ( Domhnall Gleeson ) requested for a house call at a dilapidated mansion called Hundreds Hall. While treating a young maid who complains about the residence's dark energy, the physician gets to know the Ayres family -- a clan long past its glory days. Caroline Ayres (Ruth Wilson) is the head of the household, as her mother (Charlotte Rampling) hasn't been entirely put together since the death of her young daughter, Susan; and her brother, Roderick ( Will Poulter ), wears both serious physical and emotional scars of war.

Having been brought up as part of the lower class and looking back at a single childhood visit to Hundreds Hall as a life-changing event, Faraday begins an obsession with the Ayres clan -- though that decision is heavily questioned. After all, it's family beset by enough tragedy to begin talks of a curse. Still, the doctor's fixation continues, particularly through courtship of Caroline, but as time goes on it becomes increasingly clear that something unnatural, or supernatural, is at play.

The Little Stranger plays with a lot of respect for the viewer and zero scenes with long, drawn-out explanations, but an attentive audience will get a great deal from the experience. Both Lenny Abrahamson's direction and Lucinda Coxon's script are filled with wonderful and carefully placed details that provide the necessary insight to navigate the story -- and while all of the clues are there for you to take in over the course of the runtime, it's all so artfully done that the ending remains completely unpredictable. It not only provides a wonderful shock to ingest as the credits roll, but it immediately causes a craving for a second viewing, so that you can see how all of those aforementioned details play with a totally different context.

The movie marks a reunion between Lenny Abrahamson and Domhnall Gleeson, who previously worked together on Frank , and while the two projects couldn't be more different tonally, one area where they overlap is featuring a tremendous performance from the Irish actor. There are links between the characters, as both are hungry for something that exists beyond their grasp, but what Gleeson brings to The Little Stranger is deeper and darker. It's a challenging part, as Faraday is taken down a complicated emotional path in his relationship with Caroline, but the star also focuses our attention with his underlying passion and shared curiosity in the larger mystery.

Part of what's great about The Little Stranger continuing Lenny Abrahamson's eclectic run as a director is that it's allowed him another unique aesthetic with which to experiment, and the gothic horror genre has allowed him, like with Room , to create something that is exquisitely and darkly beautiful. Hundreds Hall is a stunning estate with spectacular and memorable design -- an extension of Faraday's passion -- and on a broader level the film is gorgeous and transporting as a period piece. And while the larger approach is more about unnerving the audience than scaring, there are particular scenes (which I won't spoil here), that deliver an impressive and lasting shock.

Not everyone is going to be on board with it, but The Little Stranger is a film that you have to give yourself over to and live in. It's methodical storytelling, but also spectacularly rich and fulfilling, right up to its perfectly mysterious conclusion that demands further engagement and discussion. It's quiet and subtle, but it packs a great punch, and is a wonderful and different addition to the ongoing horror renaissance.

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.

Andrew Garfield Recalled His Awkward Encounters With Will Ferrell And Tom Hanks, And I Can Honestly Relate

As Gladiator II’s Paul Mescal Recalls Being 'Incapacitated’ By Nerves On His First Day Working With Denzel Washington, The Oscar Winner Gave Him A Compliment

James Hong Told Me About His First Voiceover Role In 1956’s Godzilla And Wow, We Should Really Talk More About The Actor’s Career

Most Popular

• 2 Harley Quinn's Showrunners Reveal More About The Batman Sex Scene They Weren't Allowed To Include In The Animated Show
• 3 Robert Englund & Heather Langenkamp Talk 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' 40th Anniversary
• 4 Bruce Springsteen Weighs In On Jeremy Allen White’s Upcoming Biopic About Him
• 5 Taylor Swift Announced Her Eras Tour Book And A New TTPD Vinyl, And We Need To Take A Second To Appreciate The Swifties' Hilarious Reactions

🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed!

Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!

Get us in your inbox

Sign up to our newsletter for the latest and greatest from your city and beyond

By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.

Awesome, you're subscribed!

The best things in life are free.

Sign up for our email to enjoy your city without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush).

Déjà vu! We already have this email. Try another?

Love the mag?

Our newsletter hand-delivers the best bits to your inbox. Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions.

• Things to Do
• Food & Drink
• Arts & Culture
• Time Out Market
• Los Angeles

• Recommended

The Little Stranger

Lenny Abrahamson adapts Sarah Waters’ ghost story into an understated but satisfyingly spooky snapshot of class in post-War England.

Time Out says

Director Lenny Abrahamson knows how to turn small spaces into big drama. His last film (‘Room’) focused on a single, small shed. The one before (‘Frank’) primarily took place in a remote music-studio cabin. With ‘The Little Stranger’ – adapted from Sarah Waters’ gothic novel – he’s expanded to the rather grander scale of an old, English manor house. But it feels no less effectively claustrophobic. That manor house is Hundreds Hall, a decaying, 18th-century estate whose old-money residents, the Ayres family, can barely manage its upkeep during the late ’40s. When their sole maid falls ill, they summon Dr. Faraday (Domhnall Gleeson), a shy, awkward fellow, who soon confesses to having a lifelong obsession with the crumbling mansion since visiting during his childhood and befriends the eldest of the Ayers offspring, the earthy, practical Caroline (Ruth Wilson). But as the stiff, white-collar doctor draws closer to the welly-wearing Caroline and begins to rather creepily exercise his aspiration for the life of the landed gentry, it also becomes evident there is a malevolent presence lurking in the shadows of Hundreds Hall – something seemingly set on accelerating House Ayres’ decline. True to Waters’ book,  Abrahamson valiantly resists turning ‘The Little Stranger’ into a full-on horror show, teasing its ghostly strands by delicate degrees, while Gleeson and Wilson’s increasingly uncomfortable relationship occupies the bulk of your attention. Those hoping for ‘Insidious’-like shocks and jump scares may find their patience tested, but to succumb to such frustration is missing the film’s fine point: there may possibly be a spectral threat here, but this is really a story about people haunted by something very different, but just as intangible: namely, class.

Release Details

• Release date: Friday 21 September 2018
• Duration: 111 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Lenny Abrahamson
• Screenwriter: Lenny Abrahamson
• Domhnall Gleeson
• Ruth Wilson
• Will Poulter

Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.

Discover Time Out original video

• Press office
• Investor relations
• Work for Time Out
• Editorial guidelines
• Privacy notice
• Do not sell my information
• Cookie policy
• Accessibility statement
• Terms of use
• Modern slavery statement
• Manage cookies
• Advertising

Time Out Worldwide

• All Time Out Locations
• North America
• South America
• South Pacific