A young unsuccessful actress Julia (Maika Monroe) moves with her husband Francis (Karl Glusman) to Bucharest. There, she becomes convinced that their neighbor, Daniel Weber (Burn Gorman) is watching her at all times.
This was Chloe Okuno's full-length directorial debut, and she also wrote the script. It premiered at Sundance in January 2022 before being released in June by IFC Midnight and Amazon Studios. Focus Features have the worldwide rights.
Tropes
- Apartment Complex of Horrors: Julia lives in an apartment block in Bucharest, where she's lonely, isolated, and surrounded by unfriendly people who seem to have no interest in even talking to her (though the language barrier doesn't help). She's also being stalked by a serial killer who lives in the apartment building across the street, who sneaks in, squats in her apartment, and murders her Only Friend, Irina.
- Casting Gag: This isn't the first time Maika Monroe has been followed by someone who is intent on murdering her and anyone else who stands in the way.
- Chekhov's Gun: Irina tells Julia that she has a gun in case her Psycho Ex-Boyfriend tries to break in. It doesn't help her, but it allows Julia to kill Daniel when he attacks her.
- Chekhov's Skill:
- It's mentioned that Julia's an actress. Her acting skills help her to feign death from the slashed neck Daniel gives her long enough to allow her to grab Irina's gun and shoot him.
- Julia mentions to Irina that she's secretly learning Romanian because she dreams of surprising Francis by casually speaking it in conversation. Unfortunately, she's only able to show it off when she exposes him for telling a joke at her expense to his coworkers.
- Conveniently Timed Distraction: It's revealed that Daniel was in the middle of murdering Irina when Julia had the landlady open her apartment, and the appearance of a neighbor's cat was a convenient distraction and cover for him.
- Final Girl: Julia survives her run-in with Daniel and kills him, but not before he's killed Irina and many other women.
- Fish out of Water: Bucharest seems cold, deserted, and strange to Julia, who spends most of her days alone and unable to speak Romanian. When she does get the opportunity to be involved in a group conversation, others tend to speak Romanian and ignore her, increasing her sense of isolation.
- Foreshadowing: Irina is wearing a choker necklace when she first meets Julia, which aligns perfectly with her decapitation later on in the film.
- Gaslighting: Everybody except Irina is convinced that Julia has to be imagining her stalker.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Francis may seem uncaring toward Julia's plight but you can't blame him for trying to do his best during the circumstances, especially when Julia isn't exactly being the most reasonable, regardless whether she's telling the truth or not, and is understandably fed up with her by the time she takes it too far.
- Kick the Dog: Daniel taunts Julia by revealing that he was indeed hiding in the closet with Irina during the wellness check, and that Julia had inadvertently been looking right at him. She was just steps away from saving her friend and exposing Daniel and didn't even know it.
- Language Barrier: The American Julia can't speak Romanian, while everyone else (especially her husband Francis) can. He uses this to hide stuff from her.
- Loners Are Freaks: The unmarried Daniel lives with his father in the apartment across the street, he has no friends or girlfriends, and Julia thinks he's a Serial Killer. She's right.
- MRS Degree: Francis has a high-powered job, while Julia stays at home. She's a trained (but unsuccessful) actress.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: It was originally sent in New York, until the Covid-19 shutdown made filming there impossible. This is also why the streets of Bucharest look so deserted.
- "Rear Window" Homage: Julia becomes convinced that the man who lives across from her in the apartment building is a Serial Killer due to suspicious things she hears and sees. She embarks on a "Rear Window" Investigation before he can hurt her.
- Red Herring: There's still twenty minutes of runtime left by the time the police seem to catch the Spider.
- Subverted Suspicion Aesop: After Julia stalks her neighbour Daniel, suspecting him of being a Serial Killer, he files a complaint to the police, after which Julia clumsily apologizes, still distrusting him. It turns out he was a serial killer after all.
- Vasquez Always Dies: The only person who's particularly nice to Julia, the tomboyish and tough Irina who tips her off about the gun, is murdered by the Spider.
- Workaholic: Francis typically doesn't get home from his job until well after ten at night, which leaves Julia to spend most days entirely by herself.
