Lurker (2025) Review: When Stalking Becomes the Art of Industry Infiltration

There’s a slow, surgical cruelty in Lurker, a psychological unravelling that doesn’t scream, but hisses through every glance, pause, and silence. What begins as an innocuous backstage presence quickly sinks into something darker, more intimate, and more invasive. This isn’t just a story of admiration gone awry; it’s about how easily perception can be weaponized. How obsession thrives not in shadows, but in plain sight.

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Matthew isn’t a fan; he’s a virus, and Oliver’s world was the perfect host. Lurker strangles the fantasy of obsession with the cold reality of what happens when manipulation wears a friendly face. The trailer below teases this shift, a tightening of psychological grip that sets the tone for everything that follows.

Watch it, and let the quiet dread settle in.

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Film Title: Lurker
Cast: Archie Madekwe
Director / Writer: Alex Russell Music by Kenny Beats
Distribution: MUBI
Production: High Frequency Entertainment
Release Date: Thursday 6 November 2025
Review by: Mother of Movies

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When I was younger, my best friend and I had this weird fantasy about having a stalker. Not the murder-you-in-your-sleep kind, the obsessed-fan-who-thinks-you’re-everything kind. It sounded romantic in that delusional way twentysomethings romanticize toxicity. Lurker takes that fantasy and strangles it with the cold reality of how it doesn’t need to be obsessed with a specific person; it can actually be their whole lifestyle.

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“Just make your self usefull.

If you wanna stick around”

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The Perfect Opportunist

Matthew works at a clothing store where musician Oliver shops. When Oliver walks in, another employee immediately recognizes him, gushing for photos while Matthew plays it cool, pretending he has no idea who this rock star is. It’s the perfect bait for someone whose ego needs constant feeding. “Come to my gig,” Oliver says, like he’s doing Matthew a favor. Meanwhile, Matthew’s already three steps ahead.

The film opens with Matthew backstage after the show, walking into a room where Oliver and his crew have their pants around their ankles, some bizarre hazing ritual that screams “prove you belong here.” Oliver challenges him: “What, you gonna stand there with your pants on?” Matthew drops them without hesitation. When that doesn’t receive the praise he expected, he pulls down the next layer, starkers. from the waist down. They all roar with laughter. Just like that, he’s in. The initiation is complete, and everyone in the room respects the commitment. It’s disturbing how easily performative vulnerability becomes currency in these circles.

The Puppet Master’s Symphony

The cinematography positions us as voyeurs watching Matthew watch Oliver, frames within frames, like we’re complicit in the stalking. A song is playing in the background with lyrics about being someone’s puppet. It’s almost too on-the-nose except it works. Matthew announces from the jump that he’ll do anything, and the film never lets us forget it.

What makes Lurker fascinating is how Matthew weaponizes his role as the “nobody.” He becomes Oliver’s cleaner, his shadow, absorbing everything. When he goes out to shadow the crew’s cameraman recording a new film clip, the guy ignores him completely. That is, until Oliver shows interest in the footage Matthew has been taking on his camcorder. Suddenly, Matthew’s worth paying attention to. Matthew circumvents Noah’s cold shoulder and learns the programming in his own time. Filmmaking programming was supposed to teach him. When his own footage and opinion is smiled upon by Oliver himself, Noah is cut out of the project entirely. Matthew ends up wearing his credentials. Oliver casually announces that Matthew is now his “best friend.” Matthew sees him. For the moment, anyway.

“I’m not a fan,” Matthew insists, and maybe he believes it. Maybe he’s convinced himself this is something else, artistic collaboration, genuine connection, destiny. But we know better.

The Circle of Enablers

Matthew brings his coworker Jamie (Sunny Suljicrom) from the store to a party. Oliver fawns over Jamie’s homemade clothing. Suddenly, three people are competing for Oliver’s attention: the cameraman Noah (Daniel Zolghadri), Matthew, and Jamie, who promises sweaters for the whole crew. He makes them himself. Everyone in Oliver’s crew can see what’s happening. This weird Hunger Games of proximity to fame, but nobody stops it. Oliver thrives on it, maybe even orchestrates it, whether purposeful or not. It’s hard to tell.

Matthew “accidentally” knocks Jamie off a ladder during a particularly competitive filming moment. He’s immediately cast out. The desperation in his attempts to claw his way back is palpable and pathetic. But he’s more than a stalker. He saw this coming and had his own weird insurance policy. He sets up an elaborate scheme with the ease of an opportunistic predator. Some young girls approach him when he ends up back at his old job alongside Jamie. One of them follows him on Instagram, proximity by proxy, and Matthew sees his opening.

He organises backstage passes, disguised as doing Oliver a favor, and sets up his plan. We are privvy to Matthew crushing up drugs, the girls drinking water as they flit about backstage. Suddenly, Matthew is in a position of power. He secretly placed cameras inside Oliver’s mansion, knowing how much he loved to take girls back with consistent ease. The footage becomes leverage to finish his “documentary,” and just as suddenly, Matthew is back in.

It’s almost comedic how transparent Matthew’s manipulations are once he’s back inside the inner circle. Everyone knows what he’s doing. He’s eating their food, imposing on their space, acting like he belongs, and they’re all miserable, but Oliver could lose everything now.

When the Mask Slips

Oliver eventually makes a play for Matthew, thinking maybe he’s in love with him, maybe that’s Matthew’s angle. But Matthew’s not interested in that kind of connection. His obsession isn’t sexual, it’s parasitic. He turns Oliver’s advance into a wrestling match, literally fighting him off while maintaining his position in the inner circle.

He completely takes over Oliver’s life, convincing him that everyone else is fake, playing into everything he’s learned about Oliver. He tells him that he is the only real person in his world. The power dynamic has completely inverted. Oliver tries to use force to get him out, and has some thugs bash Matthew to find out where he has hidden the footage he is holding over his fame and fortune. While Matthew’s getting beaten, Oliver looks for it, wanting to destroy the evidence and get his life back without Matthew in it. Instead, he finds something else, footage so compelling, so raw, that he can’t look away. He sees himself through Matthew’s lens. He also realises that Matthew can’t and won’t let go.

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The Cycle Continues

Flash forward to a packed theater. Matthew’s documentary is screening to massive acclaim. He’s in the director’s chair now, and some of Oliver’s former crew members are in the audience, saying they want to be him when they grow up. The cycle is complete. The stalker became the artist. The opportunist became the auteur. And somewhere, another Matthew is probably watching, taking notes, planning their own calculated infiltration.

Lurker understands something crucial about the entertainment industry: it rewards the people who are willing to sacrifice everything, including their humanity, for proximity to fame. Matthew isn’t a fan; he’s a leech, and Oliver’s world was the perfect host.

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“I hate to be misunderstood”

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Technical Brilliance

The music, performed by Archie Madekwe, is phenomenal. Tracks original works with some backing performances, and they feel authentic to the world, with intimate lyrics that sound personal even when sung to hundreds. It’s the kind of tunes infused with trauma that you want to buy and listen to after the film fades from your mind. The cinematography creates this unsettling voyeuristic quality, like we’re all complicit in Matthew’s stalking just by watching. The pacing never lets up; I couldn’t look away for a second.

LURKER is rated:
5 Opportunistic parasites wearing friendship as camouflage out of 5

Verdict & Rewatch Value

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Production Companies
High Frequency Entertainment
MeMo Films
Twin Productions

Distributors
MUBI (United States)(theatrical) (Canada, 2025)
Universal Pictures International (UPI) (Germany, 2025)(theatrical)
Focus Features (Non-US, 2025)

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Cast Highlights and Narrative Connection

Archie Madekwe not only stars but also performs most of the original music in the film. His dual role as actor and musician adds authenticity to Oliver’s character; we’re watching someone who genuinely understands the performance aspect of being a musician. Madekwe previously appeared in Gran Turismo and Devotion, but this feels like his most layered performance yet.

The film’s exploration of parasocial relationships and industry manipulation feels particularly relevant in 2025, as discussions around fan culture, celebrity access, and the performative nature of artistic authenticity continue to dominate cultural conversations. Lurker premiered at Fantasia Film Festival before its NBC release, generating buzz for its unflinching look at obsession.

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Horror films with social media-infused obsession are highly regarded here at Mother of Movies: Watch any of these titles for a glimpse into the inner circle: Stare / Inventing Anna / Clickbait.

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