Stalker (2022) Film Review
In spite of sounding like a pretty generic title, Tyler Savage’s Stalker was a very nice surprise. There I was, wanting to get a hold of a nifty thriller and this small indie film arrived to make my day.
With a rather expected premise, we enter this Californian universe with a checklist of “things you aren’t supposed to do if you arrive in a town like this”, but good characters were enough to force me to put that mundane list aside. In Stalker, things happen and they almost seem inevitable considering the transparency of its lead. Add to that good script a fancy yet humble style of filmmaking and you get a very decent thriller that will make you wonder about meeting new friends. And then some.
Andy Escobedo has just finished his relationship. He’s moved from Texas to Cali looking for new adventures in Tinseltown. He’s a talented musician but he decides to lay low; he becomes a tutor. Andy is also kind of lonely. He spends nights browsing through his pictures, where an ex girlfriend appears every few seconds.
But soon he meets a girl. Sam is her name and she seems like an ideal way to socially respawn. At the same time he befriends a rideshare driver who may be too curious for Andy’s life. He texts constantly. Calls whenever he gets a chance. Andy decides to blow him off. He maybe should have thought better. Roger is way too comfortable trespassing the line of human decency.
Perhaps you read that and thought about every other stalker film you’ve seen in the past. And maybe you’re right. Stalker has that kind of feel from the beginning. And the reason is there’s no other way but to go “real”, and if you think Stalker starts on an absurd tone, think again. These things happen, and films sometimes allow us to go through hell by identifying with grounded, well-performed characters.
However, Stalker pushes the envelope with its depiction of an antagonist that surpasses everything we’ve seen before. The best of it is it goes very slowly towards that last step of decency we’re always wanting to see in these characters. We love them, and sometimes we want redemption. There’s nothing in Stalker that deserves to be forgiven.
Roger is a monster, and a well-written one. Tyler Savage and Dash Hawkins have created a character that has a pinch of the classic stalker villains and much more. Sure, the third act is a game changer, but this part of the movie never loses force. It doesn’t have to. At the end, Roger is a presence that’s so absurd it fits with the film’s very original conclusion. I won’t spoil much, but needless to say you won’t expect it. And what happens after that, is also huge.
Sometimes films have guts. This one does. It’s a classic rendering of a stalking situation that makes you giggle at first with an idiot on the other side of the line. This is a modern version of The Cable Guy, only no comedy is allowed now. How Stalker takes its storyline further down the spiral is just a joy in a genre that usually stops when audiences are starting to feel uncomfortable. In Stalker there’s no stopping. It’s an accelerated train ride towards a curtain reveal that’s as violent and unexpected as it should be.
Again, we’ve become used to hearing about situations like this. Stalking situations are horrific and real. This film won’t make you remember that instantly because the humor tone is high enough to make the experience filled with sarcasm and irony. But it makes you question answering that call or texting back. Believe me, it does.
