The trailer on IMDB contains commentary from the director. He states he did 4 years of research/writing and that the sets and clothes were handmade to accurately reflect the time period.I agree with everything you said. One thing I was impressed with was how real it felt; right down to how they talked. Sometimes it was hard to understand their conversations due to heavy accents and just the way they talked back then (thee, thou, dost). It added to the realism though, which made the sense of dread more real.