What happens when you throw Alfred Hitchcock into a blender with a bit of Terrence Malick? You get Park Chan-wook’s Stoker, an ominous, outlandish, beautiful and twisted tale of familial obsession, sexual repression, buried histories, and, in the loosest and grimmest sense, self-liberation. Teenage India Stoker struggles with the death of her father by bonding and passively flirting with her mysterious uncle Charlie, whom her mother has invited to stay. What follows is a film that never feels exploitative or even overtly horrific, but has an atmosphere, build through awe-inspiring visuals, that inspires terror of the soul rather than of the senses. Park Chan-wook’s first crossover into American cinema is logic-bending madness and one of the most unconventional Hollywood films you're likely to see anytime soon.
