Review: Lurker

Official synopsis: A retail employee, Matthew (Theodore Pellerin) infiltrates the inner circle of an artist on the verge of stardom, Oliver (Archie Madekwe). As he gets closer to the budding music star, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.

Earlier this year I saw trailers for Lurker EVERYWHERE, only for it never to come to my local theaters. Thankfully, Mubi has picked up the film for streaming and I'm finally able to watch the film that caught my attention so many months ago.

If you make it all the way through Lurker without the serious urge to punch Matthew in the face, you are built different. Matthew might be one of my favorite movie villains in recent history because he is so damn thirsty and pathetic. And the scary thing is there's probably thousands of "Matthews" out there. So many people have parasocial relationships with artists and creators nowadays. Especially the ones that share so much online. Random kids come up to Matthew and say they want to "be like him" despite him not actually doing anything of substance. Here's just there, benefiting from Oliver's celebrity and attachment issues of his own.

Pellerin is very convincing. I feel bad for hating his face so much, but I promise that is a compliment. Archie Madekwe is also very good as Oliver. Not just in the scenes where he's singing, but he really brings a vulnerability to him, even when he and his friends are acting like assholes.

The way the film ends is going to be divisive. Personally, I wish they had gone a bit deeper with this "relationship" from Oliver's end. We know why Matthew is doing this, but I still think there was room for us to learn more about Oliver. There's also certain consequences that Matthew skirts that I also think would've been interesting to explore more.

Still, this is Producer turned Writer/Director Alex Russell's first feature, and he does a great job. He has confidence behind the camera and I'm definitely going to watch whatever he chooses to do next. 

Grade: B