Focus Features has released the first images fromThe Little Stranger, the highly anticipated new film from Oscar-nominatedFrankandRoomfilmmakerLenny Abrahamson. Written byLucinda Coxon(The Danish Girl) and based on the novel of the same name bySarah Waters, the film takes place during the summer of 1948 and revolves around a country doctor named Dr. Faraday (Domhnall Gleeson). He is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his housemaid mother used to work, but when he encounters the home’s curious family, ominous occurrences soon follow.
Abrahamson is a versatile filmmaker, easily making the shift from the dark comedy ofFrankto the contained drama ofRoom, so the prospect of him tackling a period thriller is mighty exciting. These debut images, viaFandango, look excellent, and Abrahamson tells the outlet thatThe Little Strangerdoesn’t easily fit into the box of “supernatural thriller”:
“I don’t think the film we’ve made is quite like anything else I’ve seen. There are plenty of genre elements in the mix but it never lets you settle into a familiar thriller or horror pattern; it keeps interrupting the genre tropes. As a filmmaker, moving in and out of those patterns to do something rich, psychological, human, was the most exhilarating thing.”
Check out theLittle Strangermovie images below, and check back on Collider Monday to watch the first trailer. The film also starsRuth Wilson,Will Poulter, andCharlotte Rampling.The Little Strangeropens in theaters on August 31st.
Here’s the official synopsis forThe Little Stranger:
THE LITTLE STRANGER tells the story of Dr Faraday, the son of a housemaid, who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. During the long hot summer of 1948, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked. The Hall has been home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries. But it is now in decline and its inhabitants - mother, son and daughter - are haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life. When he takes on his new patient, Faraday has no idea how closely, and how disturbingly, the family’s story is about to become entwined with his own.
