Stalkers review (2025)

January 29, 2026 Jeffrey Lyles Abbas Wahab, Allisha Pelletier, Marlo Aquilina, Olivia Stadler, Paul Thompson, Scarlett DiCaro, Stalkers

Stalkers is a modest low-budget horror thriller that does a decent job of pulling off the thrills and kills while putting together a story more engaging than the typical indie slasher fare.

Director Paul Thompson kicks Stalkers off with a competent pair of murders.

Thompson doesn’t have a lengthy resume as a director, but has worked on the camera and electrical department side of films including Molly’s Game, The Shape of Water, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Suicide Squad. He puts that experience to good use rarely making Stalkers look like the work of an amateur director.

The killer left one survivor — the couple’s adopted daughter, Charlotte (Scarlett DiCaro). With no other known family members, social services worker Justine (Allisha Pelletier) contacts her old high school classmate — Charlotte’s birth mother, Kate Swanson (stand-up comic Olivia Stadler).

Kate doesn’t remember what led to her pregnancy or the identity of Charlotte’s father. The trauma from the date rape eventually led to a split from her parents. With little support from friends and other family members led her down a far different career path as adult film actress Tabitha Swann. Kate’s become less enthralled with that lifestyle, but as her director reminds her it’s not like Kate has many options.

Deciding to make a break from porn, Kate ditches California and returns home to Michigan. Stadler is solid in a surprisingly complex lead role though she can’t hide her Canadian accent making Kate’s hometown a puzzling decision. The rest of the cast is surprisingly good as well since high-budget slashers don’t always have reliable performances.

Screenwriters Maryna Gaidar and Luke Sneyd use the generic template of a thousand Hallmark or Lifetime movies and flip it to create an unpredictable setup for Stalkers. Charlotte isn’t immediately enamored with Kate, who isn’t sure if she has what it takes to raise a daughter when she’s trying to figure out her own life.

There’s a scene where Kate has a job interview at a grocery store to illustrate the sudden shift in her career goals. While Stalkers doesn’t have much time for humor, a brief scene showing Kate working the register at the store felt like a missed opportunity. Naturally it would need to occur before the mysterious killer returns and starts claiming more bodies.

Stalkers surprisingly has a little intrigue and mystery in terms of the identity of the mysterious killer. Could it be Mike (Abbas Wahab), Kate’s awkward high school classmate who magically will be out of town and needs someone to house sit his uncle’s mansion? Or the potentially too helpful police Sgt. Leadbetter (Marlo Aquilina)? Gaidar and Sneyd work up a nice web of intersecting motivations and agendas that the killer could be several characters.

One subplot that doesn’t really make sense in Stalkers is the over eager teen couple Corey (Sam Wexler) and Aubrey (Hannah Mae Beatty).

Corey recognizes Kate from her previous films and gets obsessed with following her every move. For some reason, Aubrey is into this louse and is happy to tag along to join in on the stalkers game. Their involvement adds to the potential list of victims, but they seem superfluous to the main story.

The final act gets somewhat goofy with some uneven melodramatic performances that aren’t on par with the rest of Stalkers.

For a horror thriller like Stalkers, fight choreography isn’t a massive concern since the killer can be slow and plodding with their movements and murders. Eventually the killer has to square off with the hero, and this is where the poor action sequences drag Stalkers down.

The actors move too slowly for what should be a dramatic and serious conclusion. Instead, it comes off somewhat ham-fisted. With a stronger final act, Stalkers would be an easy recommendation. As is, it’s entertaining and enjoyable in spite of its faltering finale.

Stalkers has a post credit scene to tie up one lingering plot hole, which shows a commendable effort to close a story loop. Some higher profile films should be as attentive.