diff --git a/internal/backend/local/test.go b/internal/backend/local/test.go
index 2b868c1bc11a..5e8742368bda 100644
--- a/internal/backend/local/test.go
+++ b/internal/backend/local/test.go
@@ -347,6 +347,17 @@ func (runner *TestFileRunner) walkGraph(g *terraform.Graph) tfdiags.Diagnostics
 
 		switch v := v.(type) {
 		case *graph.NodeTestRun:
+			file := v.File()
+			run := v.Run()
+			if file.GetStatus() == moduletest.Error {
+				// If the overall test file has errored, we don't keep trying to
+				// execute tests. Instead, we mark all remaining run blocks as
+				// skipped, print the status, and move on.
+				run.Status = moduletest.Skip
+				runner.Suite.View.Run(run, file, moduletest.Complete, 0)
+				return
+			}
+
 			// TODO: The execution of a NodeTestRun is currently split between
 			// its Execute method and the continuation of the walk callback.
 			// Eventually, we should move all the logic related to a test run into
@@ -356,8 +367,10 @@ func (runner *TestFileRunner) walkGraph(g *terraform.Graph) tfdiags.Diagnostics
 			if diags.HasErrors() {
 				return diags
 			}
-			// continue
+			// continue the execution of the test run.
 		case graph.GraphNodeExecutable:
+			// The only type of executable node in the graph for now
+			// is a test run, so this is still a no-op.
 			diags = v.Execute(runner.EvalContext)
 			return diags
 		default:
@@ -378,17 +391,6 @@ func (runner *TestFileRunner) walkGraph(g *terraform.Graph) tfdiags.Diagnostics
 			runner.Suite.View.Run(run, file, moduletest.Complete, 0)
 			return
 		}
-		file.Lock()
-		if file.Status == moduletest.Error {
-			// If the overall test file has errored, we don't keep trying to
-			// execute tests. Instead, we mark all remaining run blocks as
-			// skipped, print the status, and move on.
-			run.Status = moduletest.Skip
-			runner.Suite.View.Run(run, file, moduletest.Complete, 0)
-			file.Unlock()
-			return
-		}
-		file.Unlock()
 
 		key := run.GetStateKey()
 		if run.Config.ConfigUnderTest != nil {
diff --git a/internal/moduletest/file.go b/internal/moduletest/file.go
index 4896163186ac..761839e7c91b 100644
--- a/internal/moduletest/file.go
+++ b/internal/moduletest/file.go
@@ -37,3 +37,9 @@ func (f *File) UpdateStatus(status Status) {
 	defer f.Unlock()
 	f.Status = f.Status.Merge(status)
 }
+
+func (f *File) GetStatus() Status {
+	f.Lock()
+	defer f.Unlock()
+	return f.Status
+}
diff --git a/internal/moduletest/graph/node_test_run.go b/internal/moduletest/graph/node_test_run.go
index 2bad574098a3..fbc72cffe1ab 100644
--- a/internal/moduletest/graph/node_test_run.go
+++ b/internal/moduletest/graph/node_test_run.go
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/internal/tfdiags"
 )
 
+var _ GraphNodeExecutable = (*NodeTestRun)(nil)
+
 type NodeTestRun struct {
 	file *moduletest.File
 	run  *moduletest.Run