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Originally Posted by horcrux2007
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The Gift (2015)
The 90's was the golden age of highly stylized stalker thrillers with flicks like Basic Instinct, Single White Female and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and the actor-turned-director Joel Edgerton harkens back to those films with his directorial debut The Gift. In The Gift, young charismatic Simon runs into an old high school acquaintance named Gordon, and after a painfully awkward conversation, they go their separate ways. Simon's wife, Robyn, thinks it's just a chance encounters while Simon wants nothing to do with "Gordo the Weirdo." Gordon then slowly starts inserting himself into their lives and brings to light secrets about Simon's life, and Robyn realizes that she doesn't know who her husband really is. The thing that makes The Gift so unpredictable is the ambiguity of the villain. Initially, we think that Gordon is the villain since we seem him suddenly become too clingy and start stalking the couple, but as the plot progresses, Gordon reveals several secrets about Simon that make Simon seem like the true villain. Each secret revealed about Gordon and Simon twists the plot even further but not so much that it causes the film to meander through its story. This is a very controlled movie. None of the suspense comes from big chase sequences or any real action; it's the revelations about the characters that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The Gift is a surprisingly well-crafted and intense thriller film that feels like a throwback to the best 90's stalker flicks.
9/10
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Great review, Horcrux! I've been hearing good things about this movie. I don't usually go for stalker type films though and once I heard that I was almost set to not see it at all. I won't see it in theaters, but I'll give it a watch sometime after the dvd release.