Lurker opens with famous pop star Oliver (Archie Madekwe – Saltburn, Gran Turismo) walking into the clothes store where part-time photographer Matthew (Théodore Pellerin, above-right with Madekwe) works, and based on how the latter talks about music and the thoughts they share on it, Oliver asks him along to check out his gig that night, and give him feedback on his own songs.
Oliver’s an odd character, given how one minute, he’s fully-engrossed in anything Matthew says or does, and the next, he’s completely aloof; and given how he starts employing Matthew to film everything that happens, so they can capture moments for his ‘Insta’, there are times when he comes over, camera-ready, only for Oliver to be out when he’s expected to be in, dropping back in later, mumbling a “hello”, at best, before ignoring him and disappearing again.
Beyond that, Oliver has a team on the payroll who also hang about his house all dady, including a video editor, but the others do very little indeed. Still, it’s an odd situation for Matthew, as he tries to blend in with established friend group. Reminds me of a time in my third year at Uni, when for whatever the project was that we were working on, I was the outsider, and after meeting up a few times, it ended up in one last night blitz when we met up at the room of one of them, taking turns to type out the entire project, as it was due in the morning.
That worked out fine, but once it was done, I barely saw them again, and I can tell that if Matthew wasn’t in awe of Oliver’s lifestyle and bowed out, he wouldn’t hang out with any of the rest, but it does lead to conflicting times when his friend and store colleague, Jamie (Sunny Suljic), starts getting ingratiated with the all of them, putting Matt’s nose out of joint.
Out of Oliver’s army, only the sole female amongst them, Shai (the lovely Havana Rose Liu – AfrAId, Bottoms), seems to show any attempt of being human towards Matthew, while all the men band together and frequently ignore him, such as when Matt has some good ideas, yet video editor Noah (Daniel Zolghadri – Y2K) also feels like he’s encroaching on his territory.
Lurker is a tale of a bizarre toxic relationship, which is intriguing, but while I couldn’t tell where it was going for most of the running time, it ended up better than expected, and certainly worth a watch.
Although, everyone keeps calling each other “bro“.
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credits scenes. In fact, in the moments as the film came to an end, I was expecting exactly that to happen. And it did 😀
Lurker is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 98 minutes
Release date: December 12th 2025
Studio: Twin Productions
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Super 16)
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 7.5/10
Director: Alex Russell
Producers: Galen Core, Archie Madekwe, Marc Marrie, Charlie McDowell, Duncan Montgomery, Alex Orlovsky, Olmo Schnabel, Jack Selby
Screenplay: Alex Russell
Music: Kenny Beats
Cast:
Matthew: Théodore Pellerin
Oliver: Archie Madekwe
Jamie: Sunny Suljic
Shai: Havana Rose Liu
Sebastian: Cam Hicks
Swett: Zack Fox
Bowen: Olawale Onayemi
Noah: Daniel Zolghadri
Concerned Fan: Brian Niles
Photographer: Sean Wang
The Fan: Chaize Macklin
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.