Everyone has their own obsession, whether it is sports, movies, video games, and occasionally people. We have come across this in several films. For example, we have observed some of the characters in a movie being so obsessed with another character to the extent of stalking and even murdering among other extreme actions just to be close to that one person they are completely obsessed with. The best of these include works such as Fatal Attraction, The Invisible Man, Misery, Single White Female and Brian De Palma’s aptly named Obsession. Nonetheless, very few are good films within this genre. This subgenre is unfortunately riddled with many average and uninteresting movies which make “stalker” subgenre one of the worst there is.
The Admirer is the newest film told from that point of view; about obsession, murder thefts secrets and lies. So does The Admirer reinvent stalking flick? Unfortunately no. And while it may be likened more reasonably than most similar movies , it also commits similar mistakes made by previous ones even as there may not be much here for any other audiences beyond those who already like at least the lowest bar of these kinds of films.
The Admirer is a typical predictable movie on obssesion and stalking actually. There is nothing special about the writing itself or even noticeable cinematography nor was editing particularly smooth not forgetting performances by some cast members which were quite shaky without any sense of chemistry between them on set . In summary- highly murky movie: Doggedness for plot notwithstanding all defects in direction makes for a choppy story line and unevenly paced picture. With that said however, individuals that fall under this genre category who can stomach clichéd Lifetime “Movie of the Week” type variations will find themselves entertained.
Nancy Williams (Roxanne McKee) — once upon a time haunted by her stalker whom she ghosted before — but then no longer stalked after her fiancé was murdered tragically and over a year ago. But just when she is finally moving on with her life as evidenced by her having made progress in dealing with grief and even dating other people, the stalker returns to ruin everything once more. She has to figure out who is stalking her before either she or someone close to her faces the same death as that of her former husband.
The plot itself is basic but catchy enough. A well-intentioned and well-crafted whodunit will always keep the audience captivated. Nevertheless, you still have to do it correctly as we have seen time and again. Regrettably, The Admirer doesn’t meet this standard. Not that being said; the mystery taps into something fundamental about humans; our need for secrets which will hold some viewers through until the end of the movie. However, there is no twist in this story—it’s predictable from start to finish yet still manages to disappoint. Those red herrings just don’t make any sense and those little twists they throw at you throughout only jar.
Really there’s nothing much admirable about The Admirer too. Basically within 15 minutes of the film one could already tell who among all characters would turn out to be that crazy fan following him everywhere he goes day or night without making any noise whatsoever while doing so . However, you may feel compelled to keep watching in order to determine that you were right. Nonetheless, it takes ages for this journey even though it is only a ninety minute film filled with no interest even on a dull day like this
To keep you interested in watching it, there are not many things that happen here except for some monotonous scenes of sex, investigations and the stalker’s attempts to ruin Nancy’s life. These involve texting characters from other people’s phones, planting bras in Nancy’s purse so as to make her boyfriend think she was cheating on him with someone else or even showing a video of herself having sex in her workplace at an important meeting.
However, there are moments in the film where the stalker actually saves Nancy. It could be from sleeping with a married man who told her he was single or even worse Nancy being secretly abused by her partner though it is never completely confirmed but there were several instances when he showed signs of anger towards her. Sometimes you do strangely find yourself cheering for the stalker.
As mentioned earlier, The Admirer pretty much adheres to every conceivable conventions and tropes of its sub-genre,. For instance, if you sat down now and wrote out the generic obsession/stalker movie front to back , you would most likely end up with a movie exactly like The Admirer.
This movie has plenty cringe-worthy moments; plus some steamy scenes that feel unearned or unjustified at all. Additionally, this film has endless scenes of unwarranted tension and an absolutely over-the-top third act. Again if one loves this type of movie and does not mind clichés used in stalker movies then go ahead and watch this film but for those who casually enjoy movies I advise staying away from this unoriginal take on stalking which uses every cliché in the book.
But it is not all bad for The Admirer as it introduces quite interesting gimmicks that however remain unexploited throughout its duration. One good example is Nancy’s house which is magnificent. This house comes complete with voice activated lighting system /music system along with great design plan behind it; we only wish there were more occurrences such as this other than randomly playing music in the house, flickering lights or even worse turning up the thermostat for hot water to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Such moments remind me of haunted house movies rather than grounded stalker movies.
It would have worked if we maybe see a masked figure hiding inside her house, watching over her as she sleeps, and then perhaps moving things or just standing scarily behind Nancy in broad daylight during a creepy shot. If this location and setting was used often or throughout the entire movie it could have felt much more personal, much scarier, and might have been a stalker film worth discussing.
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