AV 🇺🇦Really enjoyed this. Incredibly well-crafted and tense slow-burner, I appreciate how Abrahamson is patient with the story and letting us bask with these characters before things go down. #TheLittleStranger @[email protected]
I completely see why Focus just ended up 'dumping' this in USA - it really asks a lot of audience even if you try and sell it a a more 'A24 horror' because it's not quite a horror and not quite just a straight drama about a family coming undone. Might a festival run have helped?
Because it really is worth a watch. Definitely some of the best directing work and performances from Abrahamson and the cast.
Also I forgot just how great of a venue Curzon Mayfair is. Amazing space, amazing and huge screen that really stands out. Need to see way more stuff there.
To add to the above - here’s a great take from @[email protected] explaining the film's “issues”. TL;DR - all about American vs British sensibilities to indie horror, gothic horror and the overall genre popularised by the likes of du Maurier being more a UK thing https://letterboxd.com/brianformo/film/the-little-stranger-2018/1/
A ★★★½ review of The Little Stranger (2018)
I saw this months ago and the distributor is pretending it doesn't exist probably due to not being able to market it as a straight up horror movie/ghost movie, coupled with it being a seemingly odd follow-up to the more mainstream Room which earned Lenny Abrahamson an Oscar nomination. And mostly, I get the reservation, but Abrahamson hailing from the U.K. makes more sense as a follow-up, as The Little Stranger is a classical and traditional UK gothic romance story that's ultimately about class separation. I wish it weren't being buried, but it is. Anyway, I saw it months ago