The '80s infamously gave rise to a niche sub-genre of the horror film vehicle, triggering a bloodbath of same-page slasher films that repurposed shared devices and motifs to an enduring effect. With "The Stalker," director John Giorgio gets into his time machine to pay homage to those historical tormentors in what becomes an engaging slab of horror moviemaking.
While Jason's iconic hockey mask from "Friday the 13th" doesn't make an appearance, nostalgically familiar point-of-view shots from the stalker's perspective feature en masse, along with a subterranean synthesizer score and a high gloss artifice cloned from the DNA of its influencers. Yet it's the central theme at the cold heart of "The Stalker" that most assures its transmissions of terror: Few thoughts are as unnerving as those of a predator who can't be stopped, and the characters caught in the sight lines of the film's namesake killer successfully project this with an over-the-top delivery that works.
For committed fans of horror films, "The Stalker" is prerequisite viewing. For all the rest of us, it's a guilty indulgence, and one that's queasy fun to submit to. - (Was this of use? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)
While Jason's iconic hockey mask from "Friday the 13th" doesn't make an appearance, nostalgically familiar point-of-view shots from the stalker's perspective feature en masse, along with a subterranean synthesizer score and a high gloss artifice cloned from the DNA of its influencers. Yet it's the central theme at the cold heart of "The Stalker" that most assures its transmissions of terror: Few thoughts are as unnerving as those of a predator who can't be stopped, and the characters caught in the sight lines of the film's namesake killer successfully project this with an over-the-top delivery that works.
For committed fans of horror films, "The Stalker" is prerequisite viewing. For all the rest of us, it's a guilty indulgence, and one that's queasy fun to submit to. - (Was this of use? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)