Blu-ray

Equal parts coming-of-age story, family melodrama, exploration of femininity and homage to Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, the Hollywood debut of director Park Chan-wook is just as unusual and twisted as his earlier Korean thrillers Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, OldBoy and Lady Vengeance.

Following the death of her father on her 18th birthday, India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) is surprised to meet uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), her father's charismatic brother, whom she had never heard of before. And when the increasingly creepy Charlie moves in with India and her unstable mother Evie (Nicole Kidman) things start to get really weird.

Picture: 20th Century Fox's Blu-ray platter does a magnificent job of translating Stoker's 35mm photography to the digital realm. And given how important the film's visuals are to its success, that's no small thing.

From start to finish the AVC 2.40:1 1080p encode delivers an authentically film-like viewing experience. The stylised colour palette favours muted tones, but where necessary still allows vivid primary colours a level of saturation and brightness that ensures they pop out of the image – just check out the spray of bright red blood against the flowers in Chapter 27 for a prime example.

Black levels also impress, providing a suitably shadowy atmosphere while still holding onto plenty of detail. Speaking of which, daylight scenes and close-ups are awash with intricate textures and detailing thanks to the overall clarity of the picture.
Picture rating: 5/5

Audio: 'My ears hear what others cannot hear,' states India at the start of the film – and this seems to have acted as a cue for the sound designers to really cut loose when it comes to devising Stoker's surprisingly expansive DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack.

Whether it's the crisp patter of a spider's legs as it walks across a hardwood floor or the booming echo of voices as India ventures into a cellar, the audio is every bit as overwrought and carefully conceived as the images it accompanies. And these effects aren't just pinned to the front of the soundstage, either – the mix makes constant use of the surround speakers to create a hyper-real aural landscape for the characters to inhabit.

Add to that a plentiful supply of LFE and crystal-clear dialogue reproduction and you have a lossless 5.1 track that's extremely hard to fault.
Audio rating: 5/5

Extras: The undoubted highlight of the extras package is Stoker: A Filmmaker's Journey. Running a little under half-an-hour, it's an engaging and thorough account of the film's development from script to screen.

Also included are three deleted scenes, a gallery of 135 on-set photographs by Mary Ellen Mark, a gallery of 31 photos depicting the Curzon Soho cinema redressed as 'the world of Stoker' for the film's premiere, five short promo featurettes, red carpet footage, a live performance of Becomes the Color by Emily Wells, five trailers and eight TV spots.
Extras rating: 3/5

We say: Park Chan-wook's surreal and enigmatic movie delivers plenty of AV thrills on this hi-def platter

Stoker, 20th Century Fox, All-region BD, £20 Approx
HCC VERDICT: 4/5