Summary:
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Lurker, a psychological thriller about obsession and co-dependency, premiered at Sundance and hit U.S. theaters in August 2025.
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The film explores envy, alliance, and ambition through a digital lens, delving into themes of loneliness and power dynamics.
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Lurker, crafted during COVID lockdown, offers a darkly comedic commentary on fame and parasocial bonds with minimalist direction and realism.
Lurker, Alex Russell’s directorial debut, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and was swiftly acquired by Mubi before landing in U.S. theaters on August 22, 2025. It’s a psychological thriller about Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), a retail worker in Los Angeles who methodically inserts himself into the inner circle of pop star Oliver (Archie Madekwe). This relationship spirals into manipulative obsession and co-dependency.
lots of love (and obsession) at the LA premiere of LURKER this week❣️ pic.twitter.com/imqBjdVudj
— Lurker (@LurkerHQ) August 22, 2025
The film is notable for its realism over flamboyance. It portrays everyday dynamics of envy, alliance, and ambition—filtered through a digital lens. Zack Fox, playing the protective friend Swett, reflected on how the story’s themes feel universal:
“Even on a small scale at a job or just in a group of friends, these dynamics exist, [of] how people vie for dominance over each other, how people try to push each other out.”
Beyond its stalking premise, Lurker explores themes of loneliness, hierarchy, and transactional relationships—all set against a backdrop of social media’s corrosive proximity.
Madekwe, reflecting on his character Oliver, acknowledged the realism of the power play: “Lurker accurately explores male power dynamics,” he said, pointing to the authenticity Russell brought from his experience in Los Angeles’s music industry.
Russell crafted Lurker during the COVID lockdown, shaping it into a darkly comedic yet unnervingly grounded commentary on fame, isolation, and parasocial bonds. Mubi’s acquisition followed a competitive bidding process at Sundance, setting the stage for the film’s theatrical release in August 2025.
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Rather than relying on jump scares or overt melodrama, Lurker opts for psychological precision. Reviews praised the film for its minimalist direction, discomforting realism, and the charged chemistry between Pellerin and Madekwe. Pellerin’s performance anchors the film’s unnerving empathy, while Oliver’s character resonates as both narcissistic and quietly vulnerable.
The film launches into a cultural moment where parasocial relationships and influencer worship are mainstream concerns. Lurker doesn’t moralize—it reflects, with unnerving clarity, how digital closeness easily slips into psychological invasion. In the year’s late-summer lull, it offers a fracture in comfort zone: enough to spark conversation and self-reflection about who we stare at, and why.
