In Review- "Stoker"

I am not a person who likes to be scared. I hate horror movies. I would much rather watch a fluffy, childish musical including dancing furry animals and annoyingly cheesy lyrics. I am not someone to go see a horror movie willingly. Yet, I was convinced by a friend and fellow film enthusiast to see "Stoker".

If I were to show you these two images right after each other. What would you deduct?

We can predict that the woman wants to cross the finish line.

What if I switched these two images, and showed the finish line first and the woman's face second?

You still kind of get the same thing.

This is because our brains can use deductive reasoning skills to connect these two ideas and make our conclusion.

This is the technique that "Stoker" uses. It isn't exactly "scary". There is very little gore (mostly stranglings), and very little of the plot and character motives are directly explained to you. It is through your own experience of the film that you come to understand.

The other aspect of the film that communicates its message is sound. The main character may be standing behind a giant tree, and you can barely hear the whispers of other characters in the distance. The idea that these whispers create our characters and their lives. This same motif is used in other horror movies. You never "see" the monster, but you see its shadow. This is even scarier then seeing the monster. This is the idea of fear of the unknown.

These two techniques help to create the world of "Stoker". The world where everyone has a face they put on, but their true nature is hidden from view. The daughter seems quiet and reserved, but she is actually blood thirsty and demented. The mother seems happy-go-lucky, but is actually jealous of her daughter's relationship with her husband and her husband's brother. Uncle Charlie seems like a polite and kindly man trying to comfort the family he never got the chance to know, but he is in fact the killer, the consumer of the "perfect little family". (I didn't really give anything away. You know it's him the minute you meet him. Those shivers down your spine and churning feeling in the pit of your stomach gives it all away.)

The Plot

India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) has just lost her father and best friend Richard (Dermot Mulroney). Suddenly, out of nowhere, her father's brother, Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), comes into the picture. He seems like a kind world traveler who simply wants to comfort the family he has never known. India's mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman), a stay-at-home mom, wants to escape the empty house every chance she can get. India is taunted by a school football-playing bully and protected by a loner named Whip (Alden Ehrenreich). Uncle Charlie stays at the Stoker home for quite some time, but why is he here? He seems to fit right in. But where has the cook gone? Why hasn't Aunt Gwen called India back? What are the secrets that this family keeps hidden?

The Cast

Little Alice is all grown up. Mia Wasikowska has come a long way from the Disney scene. But she is easily able to pull off quiet and disturbed India. I have never seen Matthew Goode in a role like this. His sexy smile haunts us in our dreams, instead of caressing us to sleep. Nicole Kidman has not been very successful in recent years. She has continued to be a part of projects that never take off the ground. "The Golden Compass"(2007) is a good example of this. Good idea, no results. This one however she is able to bring the sanity we crave throughout this movie. Her motives make sense to the average brain. We understand why she hates her daughter and why she wants to get with her husband's brother. She is somehow still able to keep us in the dark. Would she ever do anything drastic? Would she tell the authorities? Fight for her life? We never truly know all the secrets she holds so close to her heart. We never really know who she is. We just think we understand her motives.

Is It Worth The Scare?

I don't ever want to watch this movie again. Not because it is bad but because it freaked the hell out of me. I don't like monster movies, but I'd rather watch them then something like this. I know those monsters aren't real, but a family like this could be out there somewhere. I could have a twisted uncle out there who wants to corrupt my innocent nature with his black soul. Someone could have a mother who wants her dead. This could all happen in real life. That's what makes it all so terrifying.

On the other hand, this movie was very well done. The editing is impeccable. There is a shot that shows Kidman's blond hair and transitions to a shot of the weeds of the riverbank. The hair transforms into the weeds. There are other scenes involving a swinging light bulb. The flash of images stimulates the sensation that the bulb is swinging back and forth- in light and in darkness. The details of the editing remind me of Tarantino. The crackling of the egg shells. The sound of a belt being undone. The most simple details are perfected so that you listen and watch. So that you can't take your eyes off the scene for one second no matter how bad you want to.

2.5 Out of 4 Shovels