It was Hitchcock’s Vertigo that made Park Chan-Wook decide to be a filmmaker. Blood-curdling tension, visual symbolism and characters who go off the straight-and-narrow in slow motion are regular ingredients in his films. Stoker, Park’s English-language debut, in which there is more than an echo of Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, is a new high point in his oeuvre.
Evelyn Stoker and her daughter India try to come to terms with father Richard’s fatal car crash. The sudden arrival of Richard’s brother Charlie puts the two women emotionally even further off balance. India soon finds out that the mysterious uncle has a hidden agenda. But instead of reacting with fury or shock, she falls in love with him.
The title refers to Bram Stoker, writer of Dracula. But there are no vampires in the plot. There is an opportunist charmer who is targeting the mother and daughter. Stoker is a dark sexual-psychological drama about murder and betrayal.
Film details
- Countries of production
- South Korea, USA
- Year
- 2012
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2013
- Length
- 99'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
