The Little Stranger

More concerned with unsettling mood than cheap terror, The Little Stranger slowly and steadily gets under your skin.

From its eerie setting to its supernatural influences, this handsomely mounted period drama from director Lenny Abrahamson (Room) has the trappings of a horror movie but generally sidesteps genre clichés.

The film follows Faraday (Domhnall Gleeson), a young doctor in post-World War II England who makes a house call at a rural estate where his mother used to work as a housemaid.

He arrives to find a reclusive family possibly haunted by spirits, including the alluring Caroline (Ruth Wilson), daughter of an unwelcoming matriarch (Charlotte Rampling), and brother to a man (Will Poulter) crippled by physical and emotional problems.

Despite some ominous happenings, Faraday soon becomes a regular visitor, both to heal the family’s maladies and to rectify some deep-seeded guilt. He is warned to stay away, both internally and externally. “Distance yourself from the whole damn mess,” a colleague cautions.

Both Faraday and Caroline suffer from — and perhaps are drawn together by — the lingering effects of childhood trauma, the details of which are mostly withheld. Yet Faraday soon realizes that any malevolent presence is drawn to him as much as the family he’s treating.

The screenplay by Lucinda Coxon (The Danish Girl) — based on a Sarah Waters novel — establishes some intriguing character dynamics as it gradually reveals secrets, both about the elaborately creepy house and those who inhabit it. Strong performances by Gleeson (Ex Machina) and the rest of the ensemble cast add depth and texture.

Still, it’s challenging to emotionally penetrate such stuffy material, given all of the muted emotions, cloudy motives, and atmosphere of melancholy and despair. Although some third-act twists enliven things, there’s not a character-driven emotional entry point for the most part, other than modest curiosity.

Abrahamson meticulously re-creates the period not just visually but also in terms of mood. The slow-burning film ensures the house itself is a character, and uses sound in a fascinating way.

Despite its excessively slow pace that might frustrate fans of traditional mainstream horror, The Little Stranger still manages to be unnerving beneath the surface. However, not everyone will reach that same diagnosis.

Rated R, 111 minutes.