Stoker (Chan-wook Park, 2013)

We know Chan-wook Park does extreme violence, has already delved into the vampire genre in Thirst and now comes up with a title which can only make you think of the writer of Dracula. Then he has a field day with the notion by scattering vampiric hints liberally throughout and despite the overwhelming glut of films on the theme you almost start wishing he will actually deliver on the formula.
If Stoker only had its fun and games with supernatural allusions weeded out, it would work better as a study of sociopathy, which is what it essentially is. The protagonists, a withdrawn and moody teenage girl stuck with her needy mother after her father's apparent suicide, and the oleaginously seductive and disquieting uncle she never knew that existed coming to stay and swiftly taking over their lives, are interesting enough, even if the lead is a bit too close for comfort to Wednesday Addams. Park's technique of focusing on seemingly disconnected minutiae is also as effective as ever in creating a wholly unsettling atmosphere. However, with the narrative lacking any particular place to go, the guessing game played with the audience's expectations comes across as camouflage for that aimlessness rather than as a valid extra layer to the onion.

5/10