Review of Stoker (2013) by Dan H — 13 Sep 2013

While it's certainly not my kind of film, Stoker excels at what it sets out to do: create one hell of a fucked up film. The meaning of the title is kind of hard to decipher.....It has zip to do with vampires though the film does have a supernatural tinge to it.

In my own personal opinion, I feel that the film is more of an homage or love letter to the style found in the hit novel Dracula. The film is a personal human story about a fucked up love triangle that involves a family.

Stoker is part dark romance, part mystery, and all bizarre. The cinematography shines in some parts (like the hair brushing scene), and it is very stylistic and bleak. The film seems to be building to something, and there is indeed a big reveal near the end.

Matthew Goode is great as Charley, the weird uncle with incest on his mind, Nicole Kidman is good as the mother, and Mia Wasikowska is pretty good as India, the repressed daughter with some issues. The film doesn't start to get interesting until the 2nd act, and the 3rd act is by far the best part of the film as it all starts to come together and it's got one wicked ending.

While I didn't completely love the film (so bizarre, thank god for that final act which kind of cleans things up a bit), I will say that I did really appreciate it for what it was: a unique, dark, and disturbing family based romance.