Stoker, the latest suspense thriller from South Korean director Park Chan-wook, also his English language debut, is not for the faint hearted. A Ridley Scott, Tony Scott and Michael Costigan production, this film firmly establishes Park Chan-Wook as the new Master of Suspense, challenging Hitchcock’s tenure in the post.  Park Chan-wook’s 2003 critically acclaimed ‘The Vengeance Trilogy’ including the classic revenge thriller Oldboy, featured a crossover appeal with international audiences. Chan-wook made his mark no doubt due to the classically inspired filmmaking, impeccable photography and a near mastery of pacing.

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Spike Lee is doing a remake of Oldboy starring Josh Brolin, Samuel L. Jackson andElisabeth Olsen, set for an October release. Chan-wook has now turned his attention to a far more faithful attempt to be a modern Hitchcock with Stoker. It is hard not to see the evolution and mastery of the classic techniques that made films like Pyscho and Rear Window masterpieces. Stoker follows the grief of India (Mia Wachowskia) and her mother Evie Stoker (Nicole Kidman) after the tragic death of Richard Stoker, a man they both loved. They are left with a massive country estate and what appears to be a fortune that provides a certain level of comfort and perhaps the opportunity to indulge the darker side of the human condition

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Richard Stoker’s (Dermot Mulroney) funeral marks the entrance of his mysterious brother, India’s Uncle Charles (Mathew Goode) into the lives of Evie and India Stoker (perhaps a tip of the hat to Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt). Charles exhibits a sort of ‘too perfect charm’ that earns him an invitation to stay at the house. That invitation into the family circle and a creeping sort of emotional connection between India and her uncle set the stage for the horrific events that will follow.

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Whether you find Stoker to be a simple or complex story, the execution of the film will impress you. The feeling that everything you are seeing and hearing is intentional becomes quickly apparent though you won’t have the time to examine this filmmaking element as part of the meta-story because there are too many engrossing pieces that keep you grounded in the moment. Technique is king with this sort of film: the proto-suspense; never before have I seen such a masterful exhibition of it. The expert use of framing and composition present simple wonders of light, shadow and movement that only experience can provide. 

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Early in the film there is a particularly impressive scene during a party where a camera follows a character through the house to an exit and then back through the house again, following the character through the windows. Done in a single take, with perfect lighting and timing, the application of such tense and unbroken movement is spellbinding. Before all my praise forStoker is given to the execution of the film and it’s inherent artistry, know that the performances do stand on their own merit. The principle cast of three communicates subtle and believable mannerisms with a sort of nightmarish pain that only great actors can convey.

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In Stoker, an amazing performance of a great script allows the characters to shock and surprise without their actions seeming out of place or implausible. Mathew Goode and Mia Wachowskia present the stone cold exterior of brilliant psychopathic behavior, while Kidman provides the requisite mental breakdown that goes with the fragility of a character caught in such close proximity to her psychopathic daughter and brother-in-law. 

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The film so honestly presents it’s cast that it doesn’t need to conceal character with cheap tricks. From the outset we understand how, and as with any great suspense story we yearn to know why. It was refreshing to see a film that could retain such a high mystique without devolving into a “who dun nit”. Stoker is not a film for the weak of stomach. While comparatively speaking, the visual gore the film presents is rather low key, the subject matter and the presentation are nonetheless deeply disturbing.

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Despite the grizzly nature of the darkest moments, it is the tension created in even a relatively “easy” scene that tickles the spine. For example, I found I was all the more fearful during a sexually charged duet scene at the piano than I was through the nastiest of the film’s several murders. Stoker proves Park Chan-wook to be the Alfred Hitchcock of the 21st century. Chan Woo Park is the new Master of Suspense. Brace yourself, this film will definitely stay with you.

-Max Romano