The Little Stranger Review

R: Disturbing bloody images

1 Hr and 51 Minutes

Focus Features, Pathé, Film 4

Dir: Lenny Abrahamsson | Writer: Lucinda Coxon

Cast: Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter, Charlotte Rampling, Josh Dylan, Liv Hill, Oliver Zetterström

Dr. Faraday is a country doctor. During the summer of 1947, he tends to a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked as a housemaid. The Hall, which has fallen into decline, is home to Mrs Ayres and her two children, Caroline and Roddy. After taking on the new patient, Dr. Faraday finds the Ayres family's story will soon become entwined with his own.

THE GOOD

Shout out to the makeup department for making Will Poulter look like an absolutely terrifying mutant. The makeup on him is so incredible that every second he’s onscreen you wince. Because of this, Poulter speaks in a lisp and delivers an all around good performance. He’s the only actor who’s TRYING here while everyone else seems as if they’re sleepwalking. Unfortunately, he’s gone for most of the movie. He appears early on and he leaves a long lasting impression on you because the character is enticing and is the only one with both sense and personality.

Jesus. When the most interesting and positive thing about your movie is the makeup on Will Poulter’s face, you know that something is wrong. ‬

THE BAD

For years, I’ve complained how most roles Domhnall Gleeson takes has him play an asshole in every movie I see him in, but this is a new start, for his character is not an asshole. As a matter of fact, he has no character at all. He’s just a doctor. That’s it. He’s a doctor. Dr. Faraday, the country doctor who exhibits no signs of human emotion whatsoever. The film even shows some flashbacks to when Faraday was a kid and even then you don’t get a sense of his personality. Just because you see your one-dimensional lead character in his youth with a basic narrative voiceover doesn’t mean he’ll be perceived as three-dimensional.

On an important note, is this what Domhnall Gleeson is from now on? The British actor who is type casted as either the detestable human garbage or that odd British fellow who has no emotion? There’s even a moment where Faraday goes, “‪What this house needs is a big dose of happiness” and I’m in my seat thinking, “Boy, I haven’t seen you crack a smile or even detected a tone of positive dialect in your voice since you were introduced on screen.”

For the record, I’d prefer an asshole Domhnall Gleeson than an uninteresting soulless Domhnall Gleeson. At least being an asshole is a type of behavior. Gleeson speaks in a dead monotone throughout the entirety of this movie and it really puts you to bed.

‪For a moment I had to ask myself, “Is Domhnall Gleeson a good actor?” Then, I remembered back to earlier this year with “Peter Rabbit” and, surprisingly, it reminded me that the answer is “Yes!” For god's sake, at least he delivered a more expressive comedic side in “Peter Rabbit‬”, and that's a kid’s movie.

The film does feature a solid cast, but it feels as if they’re all sleepwalking. It hurts that this is from director Lenny Abrahamson who blew audiences away with “Room” back in 2015. So why does his cast look as if they’re just going through the motions?

The problems I have with “The Little Stranger” are incredibly similar to my complaints with another film of this nature, “A Cure For Wellness”, all over again. You have this undeveloped love story bottled up in this ghost story where neither of the two work. The romantic subplot is devoid of every ounce of emotion and the characters switch in and out of a consistent personality to the point where it plays as a “will they? won’t they?” mystery that ends up being excruciatingly dull. Then, you have the ghost story which is far too predictable to be interesting. ‪At least “A Cure For Wellness” featured unforgettable cinematography and beautiful framework that kept me engaged and was able to compensate for its terrible narrative. Here you got— nothing. There are some impressive visuals throughout, but it’s nothing special. ‬I give it this though: when a sequence of horror or terror occurs, it is loud enough to wake you from your slumber.

So, if you catch yourself sleeping throughout this (which you will) the horrific elements are there to wake your ass up…only to catch yourself slowly drifting into sleep again. So don’t be ashamed when you end up looking like this:

LAST STATEMENT

While its cinematography is pretty to look at, “The Little Stranger” is too incoherent as a horror mystery and too dull as a romance drama. Due to the middle-of-the road performances, “The Little Stranger” is a huge waste of time.

Rating: 1.5/5 | 37%

Super Scene: Faraday has a nervous breakdown.