Great atmosphere but lacking psychodrama

Rating: 5/10 (28 September 2019)

A beautifully filmed and atmospheric Victorian era ghost story, in a great location and with wonderful spooky sets. The focus is on the lead character and a very, very haunted house, the history of which is gradually revealed. I liked the slow pacing to begin, the retro atmosphere, the house itself which is amazingly staged, and the few genuinely creepy and shocking moments. The problem is the movie does not quite manage to build tension and fear in an an incremental way, and relies too much on cliched devices. And although the characters and their history come out nicely in the storytelling, somehow the "vengeful ghost" idea isn't very convincing, and this sort of breaks things, including the unsatisfactory ending. Worth a watch though.