Stoker

Following her father Richard's death in an unexplained road accident, reclusive teenager India Stoker withdraws further into the quiet rural life she shares with her emotionally disturbed mother Evie. But her curiosity is stirred when her mysterious uncle Charlie, who she has never met, suddenly arrives unannounced. Told that the darkly charismatic Charlie will now be staying at the house, India's initial well-founded distrust of her uncle's motivations begins to waver as she finds herself becoming ever more deeply entranced by his sinister charms.

Park Chan-wook's English-language debut is a stylistically hypnotic gothic thriller that divides critics along a clear fault line: admirers find its Hitchcockian symbolism and atmosphere irresistible, while detractors argue the portentous mood tips into hollow self-parody. Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode's performances drew particular attention, though even fans of the film tended to note it doesn't reach the heights of Park's Korean work.