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The Little Stranger
2018
Though this gothic tale did boost a gloomy atmosphere akin to that of pure horror, it didn’t really get under my skin due to a rather stale story. I might not have held my breath in any scenes, maybe besides one, but the film did hold my attention well enough even so, which is weird considering how much it has going against it. But what it does have going for it is the atmosphere, the acting and the general professionalism in the way the story is put forward – however that story may be. The film looks good, it sounds good but ultimately isn’t that good when looking at the bigger picture… at least in my eyes.
While I do admire a story, which doesn’t jump to sorry excuses for scares nor execute every member of the cast in a cascade of blood by the minute, I wish ‘The Little Stranger’ was… well, a little stranger. It plays it extremely straight and therefore the film is in desperate need of either crooked characters, some canny writing or perhaps a few call-backs to classic horror, which the house and atmosphere either hints at or sets itself up to, at times. But it never happens. Nothing ever really happens. As an audience, I feel like some sort of passive poltergeist to this story. I wish I could throw stuff at these people and make them do something of interest, but I’m just trapped behind the screen unable to communicate with the characters or change the ways of the story. Like the house, the story kind of feels… a bit empty and hollow.
It is like a character drama (quietly) clashing with a family tragedy being stuck in a glossy gothic tale. If it wasn’t for the acting, the first two wouldn’t be fascinating at all and if it wasn’t for the set design and generally solid cinematography, the latter would be litter too. Pretty much everything on the outside is oozing with professionalism, but underneath it feels like a hollow shell to me. When the film finally grabs me, it doesn’t hold on for very long and it doesn’t drag me into the story more than it merely drags me along. If it wasn’t for that last-minute attempt at “something” resembling ambiguity, as well as the small outbursts of intensity, I wouldn’t have remembered this movie the next day.
I really wish this film would have been better... I feel like there is a story in there somewhere that could work, if only it would decide whether to go full-bodied drama or full-blown horror. Instead I just get the sense of an unsteady middle-ground, where neither of the genres are followed through with. I love my drama with a dash of horror and vice versa, but ‘The Little Stranger’ could really have been a little stronger in both departments, if it really wanted to bind the two of them together beautifully. If the film was a flower, it would be pretty to look at but with bad binding work. And you wouldn’t see it bloom nor would you see it wither away. It never rose to something bigger nor let a leaf fall just to trigger or trick our mind. The flower would look pretty on a grave though.
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The Little Stranger
2018
Though this gothic tale did boost a gloomy atmosphere akin to that of pure horror, it didn’t really get under my skin due to a rather stale story. I might not have held my breath in any scenes, maybe besides one, but the film did hold my attention well enough even so, which is weird considering how much it has going against it. But what it does have going for it is the atmosphere, the acting and the general professionalism in the way the story is put forward – however that story may be. The film looks good, it sounds good but ultimately isn’t that good when looking at the bigger picture… at least in my eyes.
While I do admire a story, which doesn’t jump to sorry excuses for scares nor execute every member of the cast in a cascade of blood by the minute, I wish ‘The Little Stranger’ was… well, a little stranger. It plays it extremely straight and therefore the film is in desperate need of either crooked characters, some canny writing or perhaps a few call-backs to classic horror, which the house and atmosphere either hints at or sets itself up to, at times. But it never happens. Nothing ever really happens. As an audience, I feel like some sort of passive poltergeist to this story. I wish I could throw stuff at these people and make them do something of interest, but I’m just trapped behind the screen unable to communicate with the characters or change the ways of the story. Like the house, the story kind of feels… a bit empty and hollow.
It is like a character drama (quietly) clashing with a family tragedy being stuck in a glossy gothic tale. If it wasn’t for the acting, the first two wouldn’t be fascinating at all and if it wasn’t for the set design and generally solid cinematography, the latter would be litter too. Pretty much everything on the outside is oozing with professionalism, but underneath it feels like a hollow shell to me. When the film finally grabs me, it doesn’t hold on for very long and it doesn’t drag me into the story more than it merely drags me along. If it wasn’t for that last-minute attempt at “something” resembling ambiguity, as well as the small outbursts of intensity, I wouldn’t have remembered this movie the next day.
I really wish this film would have been better... I feel like there is a story in there somewhere that could work, if only it would decide whether to go full-bodied drama or full-blown horror. Instead I just get the sense of an unsteady middle-ground, where neither of the genres are followed through with. I love my drama with a dash of horror and vice versa, but ‘The Little Stranger’ could really have been a little stronger in both departments, if it really wanted to bind the two of them together beautifully. If the film was a flower, it would be pretty to look at but with bad binding work. And you wouldn’t see it bloom nor would you see it wither away. It never rose to something bigger nor let a leaf fall just to trigger or trick our mind. The flower would look pretty on a grave though.
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