The Little Stranger Reviews
October 15, 2020
...the kind of happy surprise one hopes sticks around long enough to find its audience...
August 14, 2020
Abrahamson calmly, coolly creates an atmosphere of dread and doom, as if dark forces are gradually building against the backdrop of the unfolding drama.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
August 19, 2019
The Little Stranger is a slow-moving, mysterious horror film that spends most of its 101-minute running time building suspense.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
July 3, 2019
There are moments of stark, unexpected violence, and chilling moments that hint at the ghosts within, but mostly The Little Stranger is a horror mystery that revels in its ambiguity. But the near two hour run time feels overlong.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
June 5, 2019
Casting issues aside, Abrahamson delivers an engrossing dark tale of the struggle to find solid ground when all around crumbles in a gothic maelstrom.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
April 22, 2019
After building up a nail-biting suspense and hinting a hidden horrors, psychological or supernatural, it fails to commit to either of those paths, wavering between them until it merely rolls to an unsatisfying conclusion.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
February 8, 2019
Atmospheric, well-acted and rewards your patience with an intelligent, unusual ending.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
January 22, 2019
After the credits roll it's Ruth Wilson's captivating performance that will resonate above all else.
Full Review
| Original Score: 6/10
January 22, 2019
Gleeson's performance anchors the film masterfully.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
December 6, 2018
It's a curious atmospheric but flawed psychodrama.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
October 25, 2018
If you are patient, this is a film that delivers chills in ways you won't quite expect.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
October 15, 2018
The Little Stranger is an intriguing film, but not a great one. At times, though, its atmosphere will creep under the skin -- of attentive viewers, at least.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
October 7, 2018
the story is a drama with a ghost-like quality that is paced slowly yet it never bores
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
October 5, 2018
The Little Stranger is a rare thing...a classy, gloomy, sorrowful little heartbreaker.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
September 25, 2018
If you love strange little things, you'll be smitten.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
September 24, 2018
As ever, Abrahamson draws excellence from those around him, from that quartet of leads to cinematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland. What a magnificent body of work this Irish director is building.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/5
September 22, 2018
The themes of loss and trust veined throughout the film feed into the feeling of hopelessness and haunting. Though we're just barely feeling a chill in the air, The Little Stranger is the start of this year's horror film season.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
September 21, 2018
Abrahamson and screenwriter Lucinda Coxon have done a fine and powerful job with their source material and are rewarded with one truly mesmerising performance.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
September 21, 2018
Abrahamson allows dread to build very slowly in this handsome period chiller.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
September 21, 2018
It's brave enough to take its time.