Lurker [Fantasia 2025 Review]

by Mike McGranaghan

Lurker is easily one of the year’s most gripping films. The plot sounds like it could be the set-up for a generic Hollywood thriller, except that writer/director Alex Russell has put a great deal of thought into his story, ensuring it never goes a cheap or obvious route. The movie screened at Fantasia 2025 and goes into regular theatrical release in August.

Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) works in a Los Angeles clothing store. One afternoon, popular singer Oliver (Gran Turismo’s Archie Madekwe) comes in with his entourage. They have a moment, which leads to another moment, and before long, Matthew is shooting video footage of his new friend for a future documentary. Hanging out in the orbit of a star makes Matthew feel important in a way he never has before. But Oliver runs hot and cold, and when another rival for his attention appears on the scene, Matthew becomes desperate to hold on to his standing.

A lot is happening in Lurker. Matthew is a “nobody” who becomes a “somebody” through his association with Oliver. He is therefore fiercely protective of that status. Anything that takes the singer’s focus away is immediately perceived as a threat; any small act of disinterest on Oliver’s part is taken as a rejection. To mirror that, there’s a supporting character, Noah (Daniel Zolghdri), who is the official videographer, so at the same time Matthew fears being replaced, he is essentially replacing someone else. Watching this young guy desperately jockeying for attention is fascinatingly creepy because Russell’s screenplay portrays it with an abundance of truth.

Oliver has his own thing going on. Like many celebs, he has surrounded himself with yes-men – people who want to sponge off his celebrity. We see that he clearly gets off on the adulation. It’s no wonder he’s drawn to Matthew. Their neediness is complimentary. And just as Matthew needs Oliver’s approval to feel validated, Oliver needs Matthew’s admiration to feel the same way. The interpersonal dynamics between them are captivating.

Both central performances in the movie are absolutely perfect. Théodore Pellerin makes Matthew a guy you’re guaranteed to have appropriately mixed feelings about. The actor gives him a sense of earnestness while also convincingly selling the idea that his desperation makes him kind of pathetic. You like him, even when you hate what he does. On his end, Archie Madekwe realistically captures that weird fame-created combination of narcissism and entitlement, all while showing a core insecurity. Together, we get a rich, nuanced look at a fundamentally dysfunctional, imbalanced relationship.

Lurker is so good that I worried the ending would cop out with a predictable descent into violence. Thankfully, it does not. The film’s basic theme is opportunism, and the wrap-up meaningfully reflects that. Matthew exploits Oliver for stature, and, in his own way, Oliver exploits Matthew for sycophancy. Alex Russell builds an intricate, precisely observed portrait of how opportunistic people operate, making this a blistering psychological thriller.

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