Park Chan-Wook did what he could to turn a mediocre screenplay into a fascinating psychological thriller, but the end result remains rather subpar. The decadent sensuality of the story is perfectly complemented by the stylish production design, slick cinematography, and beautiful music. Park fills the long silences with vivid imageries and sophisticated visual storytelling to communicate what the clichéd dialogues and situations couldn't. However, everything somehow feels cold and distant despite the beautiful visuals, resulting in a thriller with no tension or intrigue. This sense of emotional detachment is also emphasized by the stiff and mechanical performances of the actors. Possibly an artistic choice to point out the emptiness of the characters? It could have worked for some films, but in this case, it just added up to the feeling of being watching a straight to TV movie.

Very well-writen and beautiful movie. I'm impressed. And 'Summer Wine' by Nancy Cinatra and Lee Hazelwood made this movie even better.

Chan-wook Park should be a favorite among asian film fans. Good to see that his first English-language film is great aswell so the biggest suprise actually is that this one is written by Wentworth Miller (o_O). It's a stylish, twisted thriller with a great performance by Matthew Goode which now takes the spot of "Best Psychopath 2013" from Hideaki Ito (the mad Teacher in Lesson of the Evil)!

i want mia wasikowska to stab me with a pencil

Trivia: Stoker was written by Wentworth Miller, the actor who played Michael Scofield in Fox's 2005 TV drama "Prison Break". Hard to believe, I know!