10 Directors Who Tried To Be Alfred Hitchcock (And Failed Miserably)

6. Chan-wook Park - Stoker

This is the most recently released film on this list and it proves two things: that Hitchcock is still a great influence on filmmakers, and his influence has reached all over the world. The film is directed by Chan-wook Park, most famous for his Korean breakout smash, Oldboy. Stoker tells the story of India (Mia Wasikowska), whose father dies, causing her uncle Charles (Matthew Goode) to move in with her and her mother (Nicole Kidman). India soon suspects something sinister of Charles but finds herself oddly attracted to him after aiding him in a murder. The lines are a bit blurry, but it's essentially Shadow of a Doubt. That film stars Theresa Wright as a girl named Charlie whose uncle, also named Charlie (Joseph Cotton), is a serial killer. The two films differ in that Charlie's attraction to her uncle is more subtle and more deftly handled. Stoker tries hard to be a wry thriller but it's much too loud to be anything more than a kitschy horror movie. Matthew Goode's Charlie (the film's clearest send up to Hitchcock) doesn't come off half as creepy and terrifying as Joseph Cotton's Charlie. Just watch the scene when Cotton talks about the modern housewife, describing her as useless and fat, explaining his derision for them all. Then young Charlie says, "They're alive, they're human beings!" Then he turns and looks directly into the camera, directly at us, "Are they?" Perfection.
 
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Kevin Terpstra hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.