Stoker Preview & Movie Overview

I was invited on set to watch some of Park Chan-Wook's first English-language horror film, Stoker, being shot, and then was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at the entire film on the Fox Studios lot a few months back. I was truly blown away, and it's one of the few movies I've seen lately that, even as the end-credits were rolling, I was thinking, "I can't wait to see this again!"

My wait will probably be about as long as yours, since Fox Searchlight is just now rolling out a short clip, and an official trailer (which debuted at the 50th annual New York Film Festival) on the film, which is to be released in March of 2013.

I've seen the entire thriller, and I can assure you that the trailers are an excellent indication of the creepy, suspenseful, tawdry fun that awaits you. Stoker is the name of the film and of its fictional family — played by Nicole Kidman as the sexy, icy mom, Mia Wasikowska her secretive, misfit teenage daughter, and Matthew Goode as the mysterious, malevolent Uncle Charlie — but Stoker has nothing at all to with Dracula novelist, Bram. It's just another delightfully crimson red herring, in a flick that's full of them.

Stoker Trailer #1

Stoker Trailer #2

Kidman's been on a Southern Gothic kick lately, and it's much appreciated (loved The Paperboy!) — as the recently-widowed, sexually insatiable Mrs. Stoker, who sees her budding daughter as competition for her brother-in-law's affections, she's simply smashing. Wasikowska (you may remember her as the title character in Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland) is innocence and malice all at once, while Goode is just bad (in a good way!). The story has a very Tenessee Williams / meets / Alfred Hitchcock feel to it, with Chan-Wook's (Oldboy) hyper-stylized sensibility. It's oozing with dread and tension, punctuated with the occasional splat of horror.

= = =
Staci Layne Wilson reporting