The Stoker

2010

1h 27m

Crime

Drama

List

100%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

67%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

Maj. Skryabin, a shellshocked veteran of the Afghan-Soviet War, shovels coal into an incinerator all day. He writes a novel and ignores a former comrade that has become a hitman -- who disposes of corpses in the furnace.

Michael Brooke

Sight & Sound

The experience becomes unnervingly intoxicating.

Jul 31, 2018

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

It's full of idiosyncratic, almost suicidal directorial choices - a noodly guitar score, inexpressive, doll-like actors - yet weirdly cuts to the heart of a country that's been taken over by such unlovely characters.

Rated: 3/5

May 16, 2013

Full Review

David Jenkins

Little White Lies

Fits all the richness and lurid eccentricity of a Scorsese gang epic into 83 pocket-sized minutes.

Rated: 4/5

May 16, 2013

Full Review

Patrick Gamble

CineVue

Combines the stilted jet black comedy of Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismaki with a decisively Russian sensibility, to create a fascinating deconstruction of post-Soviet society.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 25, 2019

Full Review

Hannah McGill

The List

Stange, dark and clever, with a sense of Rabelaisian excess and moral murkiness that's tempered by an ambiguous but unexpectedly forceful moral message, the film address personal responsibility, cruelty and creativity in shady times ...

Rated: 4/5

May 17, 2013

Full Review

Matthew Turner

ViewLondon

Blackly comic, deceptively deadpan Russian drama that's both surprisingly moving and contains moments of genuinely shocking violence ...

Rated: 4/5

May 16, 2013

Full Review

Read all reviews

Audience Member

Si me preguntan de que trata la peli, dire que de gente caminando entre nieve y un viejito escribiendo a maquina

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Aleksey Balabanov

Director

Mikhail Skryabin

Kochegar

Yuriy Matveev

Vassily Bizon

Aleksandr Mosin

Sergeant

Aida Tumutova

Sasha

Anna Korotayeva

Masha

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

Sugarhouse

29%

52%

Sugarhouse

Tycoon

46%

70%

Tycoon

Rampart

74%

35%

Rampart

The Son of No One

16%

22%

The Son of No One

Steel City

83%

53%

Steel City

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

Maj. Skryabin, a shellshocked veteran of the Afghan-Soviet War, shovels coal into an incinerator all day. He writes a novel and ignores a former comrade that has become a hitman -- who disposes of corpses in the furnace.

Director: Aleksey Balabanov
Producer: Sergey Selyanov
Screenwriter: Aleksey Balabanov
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: Russian
Runtime: 1h 27m