Danny Djeljosevic" />
Psycho Drive-In logo
Search
  • PDI Press
    Featured
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      Danny Djeljosevic
      January 17, 2022
      Fiction, PDI Press, PDI Press Writers
    Recent
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      John E. Meredith
      January 17, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

      John E. Meredith
      January 16, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

      John E. Meredith
      January 15, 2022
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    Featured
    • Skinamarink (2023) - Take Two

      Danny Djeljosevic
      January 30, 2023
      Movies, Reviews
    Recent
    • Skinamarink (2023) – Take Two

      John E. Meredith
      January 30, 2023
    • Skinamarink (2023)

      Nate Zoebl
      January 24, 2023
    • Christmas Picks: Black Christmas (1974)

      Paul Brian McCoy
      December 24, 2022
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
    Featured
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Danny Djeljosevic
      July 13, 2018
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      The Final Girl
      July 13, 2018
    • David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

      Dan Lee
      March 7, 2017
    • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

      Andre Lamar
      September 29, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

      Jason Sacks
      July 28, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

      Dave Hearn, Paul Brian McCoy
      July 27, 2016
    • Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

      Gary Richardson, Laura Akers
      April 16, 2016
  • News
    Featured
    • Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

      Danny Djeljosevic
      February 1, 2023
      News, Shot for Shot
    Recent
    • Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

      Paul Brian McCoy
      February 1, 2023
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      psychodr
      July 30, 2019
    • X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives on Digital 9/3 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD 9/17

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2019
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Breaking
  • Skinamarink (2023) - Take Two
  • Skinamarink (2023)
  • Christmas Picks: Black Christmas (1974)
  • Christmas Picks: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
  • Christmas Picks: Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
  • Christmas Picks: Violent Night (2022)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Home
Movies

Stoker (2013) Review

Danny Djeljosevic
March 26, 2013
Movies, Reviews

Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/psychodr/public_html/wp/wp-content/themes/valenti/library/core.php on line 1104

Auteurism is something I crave in my cinema. Movies are made by large groups of people both behind the camera and in front of it, and the fact that one person’s (or a small group’s) vision can come through so sharply is nothing short of astounding. Especially when you consider all the factors that could prevent such things — not just broad things like suits, focus groups, demanding actors but even more specific things like a foreign director making a movie in Hollywood. We saw The Last Stand bring Kim Ji-Woon to the states without embarrassment, not because he made a great Kim Ji-Woon film, but because he made an entertaining action flick. I was really worried about Stoker because I like Park Chan-Wook a whole lot more than I like Kim Ji-Woon, and to have Park deliver weak sanitized Hollywood fare would be a goddamn travesty.

Turns out I didn’t have anything to worry about.

Boasting a script by Prison Break star Wentworth Miller (!?) Stoker offers a solid Hitchcockian backbone for Park to do his thing: Richard Stoker (Dermot Mulroney) is dead, and his wife Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) and daughter India (Mia Wasikowska) are left to pick up the pieces. Mid-mourning, Richard’s mysterious little brother Charlie (Matthew Goode) shows up after years of traveling the world and moves in to help the family out. Evelyn is charmed by the newcomer, but India and the people watching the movie are suspicious — especially as people around the family start disappearing.

Stoker, film

Stoker is primarily a chamber piece, as a good majority of the film takes place in, on, or around the estate, giving the viewer a lot of time to spend with the characters. As India, Wasikowska straight kills it, playing an aloof, morbid teenager who doesn’t care much for people or being touched or spoken to or acknowledged. It’s an easy role to play too cartoonish, too ghostly, too inhuman — basically like a character in the average Tim Burton movie* — and because Park and Miller rarely let us into India, we have to rely on studying Wasikowska’s performance to figure out what’s going on in her head.

stoker-wasikowska

We learn that India is very much her father’s daughter, and Evelyn has no idea what to do with her own spawn, who seems so alien to her. Kidman is off-putting at first mostly because she suffers from the Uncanny Valley that occurs when an actor has too much plastic surgery. While at first it seems like she might have only been cast in this movie as a grab for that necessary evil known as “star power,” the fact that Kidman looks perpetually Photoshopped actually works for a film where her character feels so distanced from her family in their big expensive estate that the only thing to obsess over is the bliss of youth and the allure of the constant flow of housewife wine. Hardly a likeable character, but it’s a performance where the tragedy of a life wasted in stasis simmers beneath a plastic surface that eventually opens up and spews disdain. In other words, a Betty Draper character.

stoker-kidman

Meanwhile Matthew Goode delivers a delicious “Tony Perkins in Psycho” vibe, where he’s a handsome, charismatic dude, but one who exists very, very close to the border where “charming” meets “serial killer.” It’s a tough role, but Goode walks that line so incredibly well that we have our doubts about what he does or doesn’t do at night.

But above all we’re talking about a Park Chan-Wook movie and Stoker is a work that thankfully fits in nicely with the auteur’s filmography. His Vengeance Trilogy explored characters caught in an endless spiral of revenge, and Stoker is almost the opposite — what if people acted out of jealousy, obsession and even more base instincts? What if the whole damn system of family was rotten, including the people in it? People often stress the importance of family, but maybe it’s just an artificial construct like everything else, and shouldn’t exist if the people in it don’t fit together. Sometimes it might just be okay to break up the band.

stoker-goode

The whole film is evocative beyond its plotting, with its recurring themes of bugs (in the classic Chan-Wook Park style of seemingly intentionally distracting CGI) as well as birds and shoes and crosscutting that begs the viewer to keep up — all amazingly shot by frequent Park collaborator Chung Chung-hoon. Chung and Park come up with some amazing cinematography ideas, where the camera circles around Goode’s waist as he removes his belt, following the belt as if it were a snake, heightening the intensity and anticipation of what he’s going to do with it.

Stoker is ultimately a film about emerging adulthood and feminine sexual awakening, with a vague, completely understated supernatural (for complete lack of a better word) bent. In the wrong hands — I could see late period Brian DePalma signing on for this script — Stoker would probably be an interesting, weird, but not-very-good movie, but the direction, cinematography and editing turn Stoker from a twisted potboiler into an effective first shot at bringing Park Chan-Wook’s particular brand of exhilarating feel-bad cinema to a whole new unsuspecting audience.

Mia Wasikowska in Park Chan-wook's Stoker

*Speaking of Burton, it’s funny that Wasikowska starred in his sequel to Alice in Wonderland, since both Alice and Stoker are about sexual awakening to some extent. I guess Wasikowska is going to be the go-to sexual awakening actress for a few years?

(Visited 296 times, 1 visits today)
Stoker (2013) Review
4.5Overall Score

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Chan-wook ParkDanny DjeljosevicMia WasikowskaStoker

Easter Zombie Movie Marathon 2013 Day 2: Doomsday Book & Dylan Dog
Festival Review: Big Joy (2013)

About The Author

Danny Djeljosevic
Creative Dynamo / Tightrope Walker

Danny Djeljosevic is a comic book creator, award-winning filmmaker (assuming you have absolutely no follow-up questions). Follow him on Twitter at @djeljosevic or find him somewhere in San Diego, often wearing a hat. Read his comic with Mike Prezzato, ”Sgt. Death and his Metachromatic Men,” over at Champion City Comics, his webcomic The Ghost Engine, with artist Eric Zawadzki, and check out his Tumblr.

Daily Top Ten

  • Misfits 2.04Misfits 2.04 by Felicity Gustafson
  • The Final Girl: Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna Play?The Final Girl: Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna Play? by The Final Girl
  • All Through the House (2016)All Through the House (2016) by Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
  • Creepshow (1982)Creepshow (1982) by Charles Webb
  • Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter DVD ReviewAbraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter DVD Review by Danny Djeljosevic
  • Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines Blu-ray ReviewWrong Turn 5: Bloodlines Blu-ray Review by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, ZipJaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke… by Andre Lamar
  • Advance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-rayAdvance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-ray by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Adventure Time 6.22 “The Cooler” Adventure Time 6.22 “The Cooler” by Dave Hearn
  • Polar (2019)Polar (2019) by Nate Zoebl
400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

Weekly Top Ten

  • Advance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-rayAdvance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-ray by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Skinamarink (2023) - Take TwoSkinamarink (2023) – Take Two by John E. Meredith
  • House of Wax (2005)House of Wax (2005) by The Final Girl
  • Drive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)Drive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) by Alex Wolfe
  • The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy”Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
  • Sick Flix: Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)Sick Flix: Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) by Corin Totin
  • The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006)The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006) by Corin Totin
  • The Watcher (2016)The Watcher (2016) by Jessica Sowards
  • Unnatural Selections: Insecticidal (2005)Unnatural Selections: Insecticidal (2005) by Brooke Brewer
400x400 UA Affiliate Banner

FACEBOOK

FACEBOOK

Latest Reviews

  • Skinamarink (2023) – Take Two

    John E. Meredith
    January 30, 2023
  • Skinamarink (2023)

    Nate Zoebl
    January 24, 2023
  • Christmas Picks: Black Christmas (1974)

    Paul Brian McCoy
    December 24, 2022

psychodrivein

Today at https://psychodrivein.com Breaking Down Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate
 
Here's everything we know about the upcoming DC Studios slate straight from the mouth of James Gunn!
---
Read more of Paul's article at the link in our profile!

#DCStudios #DCU #JamesGunn #SupermanLegacy #Superman #CreatureCommandos #Waller #TheAuthority #SwampThing #Supergirl #SupergirlWomanOfTomorrow #Lanterns #GreenLantern #HalJordan #JohnStewart #BoosterGold #ParadiseLost #TheBraveAndTheBold #Batman #Robin #DamianWayne
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes Today at https://psychodrivein.com

 Anything Joes: S01E52 - Winterfest III

Greg and Jaren discuss their trip, experiences, and acquisitions at Kentuckiana's Winterfest III!
---
Watch the @anythingjoespod boys at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #Kentuckiana #Winterfest #CaptainMarvel #FawcettComics
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Skinamarink (2 Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Skinamarink (2023) - Take Two 

Much of what you get out of SKINAMARINK depends on what your own mind brings into it.
---
Read more of John's review at the link in our profile!

#Skinamarink #KyleEdwardBall #JaimeHill #LucasPaul #RossPaul #DaliRoseTetreault #JamieMcRae
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 430: Willow (2022)

Willow updated thirty-five years later shows how the original can grow, even with imperfections.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#Willow #DisneyPlus #ErinKellyman #TonyRevolori #EllieBamber #WarwickDavis #RubyCruz #AmarChadhaPatel #DempseyBryk #JoanneWhalley
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Skinamarink (2 Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Skinamarink (2023)

Skinamarink is the latest indie horror sensation and it’s easy for Nate to root for. But did it all add up in the end? 
---
Read more of Nate's review at the link in our profile!

#Skinamarink #KyleEdwardBall #JaimeHill #LucasPaul #RossPaul #DaliRoseTetreault #JamieMcRae
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes:  S01E51 - Army Surplus 

Greg and Jaren discuss GI Joe compatible toys that AREN'T created by Hasbro, the most recent news, and get caught up on recent listener mail!
---
Listen to the boys at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes @AnythingJoesPod #GIJoe #EagleForce #ActionForce
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E50 - G.I. Joe #16 / Night Attack! 

The next stage of Cobra's plan is unveiled as the Joes try to stop Dr. Venom from unleashing his deadly virus upon the population!
---
Watch and listen to @anythingjoespod at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #MarvelComics
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 429: The Barbie Movie Teaser

Suffice to say that Barbie is probably the best known doll worldwide, recognizable on sight. 
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #Barbie #BarbieMovie #MargotRobbie #RyanGosling #GretaGerwig
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation: Wrapping Up 2022

With the end of the year approaching, it’s time to look back on how adaptations fared at the box office in 2022 with a brand-new LOST IN ADAPTATION!
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #TheBatman #AvatarTheWayOfWater #SpiderManNoWayHome #BlackPantherWakandaForever
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Latest Columns

  • Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

    Paul Brian McCoy
    February 1, 2023
  • Anything Joes: S01E52 – Winterfest III

    Greg Engle
    February 1, 2023
  • Lost in Translation 430: Willow (2022)

    Scott Delahunt
    January 27, 2023

TWITTER

My Tweets

Look Who's Talking

millyleu
millyleu - 12/10/2022
Anything Joes: S01E47 – G.I. Joe #15 / Red Eye To Miami!
But he is cute as a cat though 😁 DN.M6K2M.ME/y9928YW
Kilo Magno
Kilo Magno - 12/10/2022
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
How could she forget such an important thing? a.X-LAB.FUN\h9928B
Matt The Lurker
Matt The Lurker - 12/10/2022
BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie
The lady in red is so beautiful tb.ZHUZHOU.INFO/F9928AN
RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

Archives

Large_rectangle_336X280
All work on this site is Copyright © each individual writer.
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
%d bloggers like this: