The latest from writer-director Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene; Southcliffe) is a family drama–psychological chiller hybrid set amid the high-finance rat race of the mid-1980s, in which the spectral forces are unchecked ambition and obsession with status. Rory (Jude Law) is a charismatic stockbroker of English origin who relocates his family from New York to a drafty manor home in the Surrey countryside — their fourth move in 10 years. His American wife, fellow striver Allison (the gifted Carrie Coon, best known for FX’s Fargo and HBO’s The Leftovers), has her doubts about this latest scheme to profit from London’s investment banking boom; only Rory seems to know where the money is coming from. Not helping is the building sense of dread that seems to emanate from the walls of their creepy rented mansion, a feeling not lost on the couple’s two jaded children, who are convinced the place is haunted. As Rory and Allison fumble to manage their aspirations and the promise of a lucrative new beginning starts to unravel, the couple is left to face the unwelcome truths lying beneath the surface of their marriage.
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