A handsome, intriguing, dangerous stranger. A young girl. A house in small town. Murder, desire, mystery.These are just few of the things that terrific Stoker and last year's surprising The Guest have in common. There's more - the role of the stranger is superbly played in both films, in the former by Matthew Goode and in the latter by Dan Stevens. There's also gorgeous cinematography, fantastic score and to be frank? Both films are seriously hot.
Our eyes and ears are the ladies - Anna and India, both taken with and at the same time suspicious of the new arrival in their home. There are creepy basements, sexual encounters, strangling, shoes thrown on the floor, small town diners and general, beautiful, sexy and freaky sense of danger.
Let's take a look at the parallels between these two: (click images to enlarge)
Wow, those are a lot of similarities. Haven't seen The Guest, but I love Stoker. It's an excellent movie. Love Chan-wook Park in general. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThank you! You should definitely check out The Guest
DeleteYou sure do have an observant eye. :)
ReplyDeleteI've only seen Stoker, it didn't leave a permanent mark in my consciousness but the fact that it did have a good cinematography.
Thanks! The cinematography in this one was just gorgeous.
DeleteI haven't seen The Guest but now, I really want to.
ReplyDeleteIt's excellent you really should check it out!
DeleteSO MUCH YES! This is how I convinced my friends to see Guest, by saying it's this year's Stoker. Now I have to share this post with them too.
ReplyDeleteI guess The Guest is a more movie thought I definitely love Stoker more. I just wish we had one shirtless shot of Goode too :P Although I did love everything he wore in the movie. That moment when he's waiting at the piano *dies*.
Oh, awesome! That's a nice and effective way to sell the movie :P
DeleteOh yes, though seriously if they showed him shirtless no way I'd buy India did not bang him, yes even with the whole incest/psycho thing, who cares :)
That moment indeed *drools*
Great post! Stoker was an amazing film, and now I'm looking forward to watching The Guest.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Hope you'll like The Guest!
DeleteI'm pretty much with everyone here. If The Guest is half as good as Stoker was, I'm really looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteAs for your post, brilliant as always. Though, I can only handle so much handsome psychopath at a time, you know?
I can barely handle so much Matthew and then when it's all his Stoker's mysterious, sharp dressed character....I'm almost dead :)
DeleteAwesome post! I saw "The Guest" last year and I noticed some of the similarities. I enjoyed the visuals of "Stoker" more but goddamn I loved the ending scenes to "The Guest" - with Annie's "Anthonio" playing and that Halloween/gothic set.
ReplyDeleteThank you! The Guest was really such a pleasantly surprising movie, the finale was really well made and original when it comes to music and visuals
DeletePerfect choice for this feature. So many good match ups here, but I especially love Mia & Maika holding the guns up and the shot of Matthew & Dan checking out the girls with almost the same exact expression.
ReplyDeleteThank you! The gun holding shots were almost chosen for cover but I consider the guys and their characters to be biggest attraction of the films :P
DeleteUGH, I love these posts. The time you spend on these and the results they bring are truly inspired. These similarities/parallels are great. I'm a fan of both films, especially Stoker, and LOVED Goode's performance in that one. Great work!
ReplyDeleteGoode was so fantastic in this one. It was really a difficult performance and he pulled it off beautifully. This could have easily been too disturbing or ridiculous but he found just the right balance.
DeleteI haven't seen The Guest yet but these parallels are amazing. You have a great eye for these amazing posts! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I highly recommend The Guest
DeleteOh my, I don't know how I've missed THIS post! WOW, you've outdone yourself lady, this is simply superb. Goode and Stevens... [sigh] psychos never looked so appealing, ahah.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! :P They are so good looking, I actually kept rooting for their characters :)
DeleteYeah I was rooting for both of them too despite their vice. Both of them have those baby blues that are practically hypnotic, by the time you realize they're up to no good, it's already too late!
DeleteI think Goode's eyes are green then again I'm practically having a stroke whenever I look into them so I may be wrong :)
DeleteAs always, your command of images and good taste in their display is quite excellent! I haven't seen Stoker, but I caught The Guest last week. I had a great time with it, and now I have to see Stoker as well so I can comment intelligently. Visually, though, The Guest is quite nice even Stoker looks a bit prettier so far.
ReplyDeleteI do see some similarities - partly due to your great choices - but I have to think that a bit of this is due to the genres they're working with. "Mysterious stranger/neighbor/houseguest" movies are bound to have shots of a young girl lying in bed - when a teenager is involved. The actresses chosen for these movies will tend to be a bit pretty. And there will always be a shot of the dangerous dude with his shirt off.
Curse/bless you for constantly adding to my must-watch list!
Glad you liked The Guest! It was such a brilliant surprise, I watched it after reading few good reviews and it was so entertaining and well shot, along with really great performances.
DeleteUnfortunately, to the unhappiness of every woman watching it, there is no shot of the dangerous dude with his shirt off in Stoker :)
This is a shame for women (and some men) everywhere!
DeleteAlas, Stoker is gonna be wy back on the list, as I still have like 6 more movies to go before I've seen all the big films of 2014...
Hope you'll like it when you get a chance to see it!
DeleteI love these posts! I threw The Guest in my Netflix queue awhile back, and I absolutely love Stoker.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think you'll really like The Guest!
DeleteBrilliant post! I am amazed at the amount of work, as well as the strong eye for cinematic detail, that goes into this feature. I didn't like The Guest much, but I loved Stoker.
ReplyDeleteThanks! sorry you didn't like The Guest!
DeleteThis continues to be one of the BEST blog series ever. Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
DeleteI only saw both of these films once but I thought they were both really rad. Loved revisiting them via this post.
ReplyDeleteLove these two movies so much. The Guest in particular was so much fun and really sold me on Dan Stevens
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