Fans of Korean cinema had very high hopes for Stoker, Park Chan-Wook’s English language debut. Thanks to his reputation on the international film festival circuit, in particular with his cult Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance), Park had seeming first choice of talent and assembled a stellar cast in Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode and Nicole Kidman. (Interestingly, none of the three principals is an American.)

True to form for Park, Stoker is both visually stunning and psychologically and physically brutal. The cinematography is painterly and the framing sculptural. Every frame merits notice and every still a work of art. In fact it’s safe to say that Stoker is Park’s most strictly art-produced film. Every color and detail bears evidence of obsessive attention, from the color of characters’ hair to the color of the walls, from the stitching on a collar to the scuffing on a shoe.

In large part this magnification of detail effectively reflects the psychological and somatic experience of India Stoker (Wasikowska), whose hypersensitive observations of the world make ordinary life an ordeal for her. On the day India turns eighteen her father Richard dies in a horrific accident. We see her first at his funeral. Relations between her parents have evidently been strained for some time. Her mother, Evelyn Stoker, seems hardly bereaved, nor does she attempt to comfort her shattered daughter.

Stoker is a film at odds with itself. On paper, it’s a slick piece of neo-gothic thrills, parading its Jane-Eyre/Mysteries of Udolpho (and more) influences, with red rooms, sinister-seeming relatives, fogged-out basements, and driblets of blood.

More plot-fully speaking, you have the mysterious death of a loved one, in this case the father Richard Stoker (Dermot Mulroney), who leaves his immense estate to his wife Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) and daughter India (Mia Wasikowska). Soon after, Richard’s estranged brother Charlie (Matthew Goode) shows up, taking a break from one of his frequent trips around the world. Charlie tries to reconnect with his brother’s family, seeming to seduce Evelyn but eliciting only hesitation and curious dread from India.

All three play their roles well, with Kidman wandering through her lines as in a daze, transfixed by the appearance of a younger, sleeker version of her husband. Mia is exactly the opposite, dissociated from everything and body. But the clear standout is Goode, who finally has found a role that utterly suits him — however specialized it may be. Kind and pleasant with a chilling, menacing undertone, you’re just waiting for him to explode.

If director Park Chan-Wook never did another movie besides Oldboy, he would still be regarded as a masterful filmmaker. Oldboy is just that good.

Fortunately, he isn’t resting on the laurels of that excellent movie. He’s doing more. In fact, he’s about to make his English language debut.

For this, a film called Stoker, he’s got Mia Wasikowska, Dermot Mulroney and Nicole Kidman to work with. The story, as we know it so far, is as follows:

After India’s father dies, her Uncle Charlie, who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother. She comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives and becomes increasingly infatuated with him.

Sounds cool. Let’s just hope nothing happens to anyone’s tounge in this one. We’re not sure we could go through that again.

Check out the trailer for Stoker after the break.

It seems the popularity of vampires would be winding down with the over-saturation of the market, but Hollywood is moving away from your modern vampire, as seen in Twilight, True Blood, and The Vampire Diaries, and seems to be looking toward the past to keep the craze going. There has been a sudden explosion of projects based on the classic vampire, Dracula. Names ranging from Adam Sandler to Park Chan-Wook are involved in some kind of story about the classical bloodsucker.

According to Deadline, Sony has purchased a pitch from writer Jason Keller that will tell Dracula’s origin story, with Joe Roth and Palak Patel set to produce. Sony would only admit that they intend to start a period franchise, and with Keller credited for the upcoming Snow White re-imagining Mirror Mirror, that might put two franchises on his plate.