The players are technically impressive but fail to make any significant emotional impact.

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.

Casting issues aside, Abrahamson delivers an engrossing dark tale of the struggle to find solid ground when all around crumbles in a gothic maelstrom.

It was a slow movie that could only be generously classified as about 5% horror movie. It’s slightly interesting because of the human drama, but the scares fall flat.