Frightfest 2022: ‘Stalker’ Review
Stars: Sophie Skelton, Stuart Brennan, Bret Hart | Written by Chris Watt | Directed by Steve Johnson
Rose Hepburn, a young actor working in horror movies, returns to her empty hotel. Forced to use the old freight elevator, it jolts to a halt on the twelfth floor, leaving her trapped with an unusual stranger. Left with no mobile phone signal as a storm approaches, tensions escalate and suspicions rise when Rose discovers the identity of the mysterious man is Daniel Reed, a camera operator on her latest movie, who is seemingly obsessed with her. As the elevator hangs precariously high about to plunge down at any minute, some harsh truths and actions start unfolding.
Essentially a two-person character study, Stalker has plenty to say about the pursuit of fame and is a wonderful commentary on women in horror, how they are traditionally put in the position of the victim. Rose wants; to change that – as seen in a scene featuring a bizarre cameo from hall of fame wrestler Bret “The Hitman” Hart as a sleazy horror movie director who argues with Rose on-set about nudity in her latest film; an argument that’s caught on camera by Daniel, her fellow compatriot in this metal cage of seemingly oncoming death…
However, there’s a twist to Stalker that’s telegraphed far too soon to have any impact when it does happen. Mainly down to the fact Sophie Skelton’s Rose is far too determined, so much so that when her character should be fearful she comes across as almost playful in her arrogance. It’s a good play on the power dynamic between stalker and victim but ultimately feels a tad predictable. We’ve all seen genre films where victims turn the tables on their attackers; one of the most infamous being, of course, I Spit On Your Grave, which – at one point in Stalker – really feels like it could have been a point of reference for Chris Watt’s script.
What’s not predictable is what follows that twist; how what we’ve seen has been planned out, how things turn out for both Rose and Daniel – its where the film starts taking liberties with time and space, revealing both the past and future of Daniel and Rose in a part of the film some may feel is exposition-heavy but one that actually allows Skelton to really revel in her character, to turn her performance up to eleven and top the ante on the insanity.
It leads to a real tour de force performance from Skelton as she, like Rose, reveals that she’s a much better actress than the first half of Stalker would have you believe. It’s almost meta in how you can believe that Skelton’s experience as an actress is reflected in Rose and vice versa (not that I’m saying Skelton would ever kill for a part. Literally that is). But there does feel like a blurring of lines between fiction and reality as Rose breaks down the how and why of what’s occurring.
***½ 3.5/5
Definitely a film you need to stick with (that first half is incredibly talky) to get to the big revelation(s), Stalker screened as part of this year’s Arrow Video London Frightfest.
