Stoker, starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode, premiered in theaters across the country on March 1, 2013.
Featuring hallmark elements of horror, thriller and dramatic films, Stoker is highly interesting because it encompasses many different genres and challenges its audience to reflect on human psychology and the roles that each leading character plays.
Directed by Park Chan-wook, Stoker is the story of 18-year-old India Stoker (Wasikowska), whose father, Richard (Dermot Mulrooney), tragically dies, leaving her with her mentally unstable mother, Evelyn (Kidman). Following Richard’s funeral, Evelyn and India learn that India’s uncle, Charlie (Goode), will stay with them for an undetermined amount of time.
However, once Charlie arrives at the Stokers’ house, things start to go terribly wrong.
First, after fighting with the Stokers’ housekeeper, Mrs. Garrick (Phyllis Somerville), India discovers that she has mysteriously disappeared, only to later find her body hidden in the basement’s freezer. India assumes that Charlie murdered her.
Additionally, India’s great aunt Gwendolyn harbors deep suspicions about Charlie and his mental state, but eventually, Charlie strangles her to death out of unstoppable rage.
He even brutally murders a young boy who tries to attack India in the woods, commissioning India’s help in burying the body in a shoddy grave.
While all of this is happening, India and Charlie develop an eerie relationship bordering on incest, much to Evelyn’s disapproval. The audience never knows Charlie’s real intention and if he is just a charismatic psychopath, but there is definitely something uncomfortable about his advances toward his much younger niece.
The real question of the movie lies with India. Will she end up like Charlie and her mother, condemned to a life of mental derangement and tempted by murder, or will she cling to reality and maintain rationality and inner peace?
This film is immensely captivating because it has elements of many different types of movies.
It is not solely a cheesy horror film whose plot is limited to blood-curdling screams and gore-filled scenes. Neither is it a pure psychological thriller or generic drama. It encapsulates both genres, which keeps the audience interested.
This is a highly original movie that challenges audience members to meditate on India’s tragic situation as both victim and potential villain. What was the point following her father’s mysterious murder that causes her to fall into this uncertain position?
Can she be considered as a weak victim who might be falling prey to Charlie, or as an aggressive villain herself, when one considers scenes where she stabs a classmate with a pencil and experiences sexual gratification when reflecting on her attacker’s murder.
This theme of uncertainty is prevalent throughout the film.
It is uncertain what the relationship is between India and Charlie. In one perfectly creepy scene, where the two of them are at the dinner table alone, she asks him with a ghoulish expression on her face, “What do you want from me?” “To be your friend,” he answers with a half smile, without blinking.
This is one of the first indications that there is something profoundly troubling about Charlie. Is he manipulative, or is he simply insane and unable to control what he does?
When he leaps out in the woods to kill India’s attacker and randomly pops up at the Stokers’ door with a pair of gardening shears, is he just crazy or calculating? Or both?
This film is not intended for the weak of stomach or the sensitive of mind, but it is highly rewarding in that it provokes philosophical reflection and challenges the audience to look closely at the genre of the film and the true roles of each character.
