Trailer Trashin’: Park Chan-Wook Creeps Us the Hell Out with Stoker
And now for something completely different. After a family-friendly fantasy literature adaptation last time, this week’s installment of Trailer Trashin’ examines a disturbing, real-world horror/drama. Let’s take a look at the first trailer for Park Chan-wook’s Stoker.
Premise: After India Stoker’s (Mia Wasikowska) father dies in an auto accident, her uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her emotionally unstable mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman). Soon after his arrival, India comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives, but instead of feeling outrage or horror, the friendless girl becomes increasingly infatuated with him.
My take: Director Park Chan-wook is one of the most acclaimed and popular filmmakers in his native South Korea, and is probably the best-known Korean director among American cinephiles, especially for his brutal revenge thriller Oldboy (2003). Now, Park is making his English-language debut with Stoker, a horror/family drama/psychological thriller written by Prison Break star Wentworth Miller, who originally wrote the screenplay under a pseudonym. This sounds like the most unlikely of parings, but the result of their work certainly looks impressive.
Park certainly has an impressive cast to work with. Mia Wasikowska is a very talented young actress, and I think that India Stoker could be the darkest character she’s ever played. I like Nicole Kidman as an actress, and Evelyn Stoker looks like a role she can really sink her teeth into, just playing a total cold-hearted bitch of a mother. Matthew Goode did a great job as Ozymandias in Watchmen (2009), and he looks like he’s relishing the part of the charming yet sinister Uncle Charlie. We only get a quick glimpse of Dermot Mulroney as Richard Stoker, India’s late father, but I wonder how much he might appear in flashbacks. After the great job he did in The Grey earlier this year, I want to see him in more stuff. The cast is rounded out by Jacki Weaver from Animal Kingdom (2010), Lucas Till from X-Men: First Class (2011), and Alden Ehrenreich from Tetro (2009).
Despite the film’s title, Miller has clarified that Stoker is not about vampires or Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. But even without anything supernatural, this is clearly a horror film, and it is absolutely dripping with creepy atmosphere. Park’s films are known for their excellent framing and shot composition, and this is clearly no exception. With nothing but lighting and creative camera set-ups, he’s able to turn ordinary locations into strange, almost-Gothic places where true horrors can unfold. And what is up with that spider we keep seeing? Is it real, or just a figment of the disturbed minds of the Stoker family?
Nicole Kidman in “Stoker.”
Unfortunately, this trailer has also given me yet another chance to bring up my biggest recurring complaint about movie trailers – they show too much. This trailer clearly lets us know that Charlie is a killer of some kind, and also that India ends up following in his footsteps to some degree. It certainly would have been nice to not find that out until the actual film, but we’ve been denied that chance. Bad form, Fox Searchlight Pictures.
However, as great as I think this all looks, I have a confession to make: I’m a total wimp when it comes to horror films. I rarely ever see them in theaters, unless I’m going with a friend. This looks like it could be something really special, though, so I’ll just have to see if I can work up the courage to see the film outside the safety of my own home. But for horror movie fans braver than myself, definitely mark your calendars to check out Stoker when it debuts next spring.
ANTICIPATION: I’m interested in seeing it, but I’m not sure I could handle watching it in the theater.
Release Date: March 1st, 2013
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, Dermot Mulroney, Jacki Weaver, Lucas Till, Alden Ehrenreich, Phyllis Somerville, and Harry P. Castros
Director: Park Chan-wook
Writers: Wentworth Miller and Erin Cressida Wilson
P.S. So, Seth MacFarlane is going to host the next Academy Awards. I like this idea, and I hope he breaks out the Stewie Griffin voice at least once.
Timothy Monforton
