'Lurker' Review: A Tense and Uncomfortable Look at Celebrity Obsession in the Social Media Age
- Dan Bremner
- Oct 12
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 28
By Dan Bremner - October 12, 2025
I went into this completely blind, not knowing the genre until just before seeing it. Which turned out to be the perfect way to watch this. Thankfully, Lurker mostly lives up to the hype, an unnerving, anxiety-soaked character piece that captures the parasitic ecosystem of modern fame and the desperation that comes with wanting to be seen by the right people. First-time writer/director Alex Russell’s debut isn’t without its flaws, but it’s a gripping, stylish little nightmare that nails the sickly glow of social climbing and obsession in the age of infinite access.
We follow Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), a lonely retail worker in L.A. who spends his time fixating on the lives of people infinitely more important than him. His target becomes Oliver (Archie Madekwe), a rising musician with just enough charisma and vulnerability to draw you in. One “chance” meeting later, Matthew begins to worm his way into Oliver’s orbit with the parties, the crew, and the lifestyle until his façade starts to crumble and his need for validation curdles into something uglier. It’s a story we’ve seen in shades before (Ingrid Goes West, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Fanatic), but Lurker still feels fresh in how sharply it captures the texture of modern aspiration: the social media likes, the curated friendships, the dopamine-hit approval cycle that can drive people to madness.
Russell directs with an incredible eye for tension. Every interaction feels like it could tip over into violence, or humiliation, or both. The camera always has a rough, grainy, and almost documentary-like voyeurism where it feels like you're watching real people being watched, while the characters almost always are. The editing is jittery and precise, the sound design unnerving, and Kenny Beats' woozy, thumping score gives everything a restless pulse, putting things constantly on edge.
Performance-wise, Pellerin is doing masterwork here. He nails Matthew’s mix of fragility and manipulation, a man desperate to be noticed but terrified of being seen for what he really is. You can’t take your eyes off him, even when you desperately want to, as his behaviour dips into something like John Travolta's Moose from The Fanatic. Archie Madekwe matches him well, bringing charisma but also a faint sadness that makes Oliver feel like a ticking bomb waiting to go off. Havana Rose Liu and Daniel Zolghadri pop in as part of Oliver’s circle, each sketching out the hierarchy of parasitic fame in a few sharp strokes. Everyone’s feeding off someone, and while the focus is on Matthew and Oliver, you do get enough from the people around them to see they're just as toxic.
I also dug how Russell presents fame as this warped kind of intimacy, people orbiting each other in carefully curated proximity, pretending it’s a connection when it’s really consumption. It’s not a horror film in the traditional sense, but it feels horrific anyway, because you recognise the behaviour. You’ve probably done a version of it. The way Matthew inserts himself into Oliver’s life feels like watching social media come alive, the creeping, algorithmic slide from fandom to fixation.
If there’s a flaw, it’s that Lurker occasionally feels like it’s cribbing a little too much from its influences. The “lonely stalker masquerading as friend” template is familiar, and the film doesn’t always push it far enough into its territory. A few narrative beats arrive exactly where you expect them to, and the surreal turn in the final act, which feels like a darkly hilarious riff on Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread, while well-staged, feels a bit too ambiguous for its own good. The script also loses some of its bite in the back half, as Matthew’s descent rushes forward without quite the build-up it needs. You feel the tension start to flatten a little, even if the performances keep you hooked.
Lurker is a sleek, tense, and deeply uncomfortable dive into modern obsession, powered by a phenomenal lead performance and sharp, confident direction. It occasionally overreaches in its ambition and loses itself in the haze of its aesthetic, but it constantly carries an uncomfortable look at modern fan and celebrity relationships in the social media era.
Lurker was released theatrically in the United States on August 22, 2025, distributed by Mubi. It has since had a digital release in the U.S. on October 10, 2025, and various international festival screenings throughout 2025
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