Eyes on You

In general I prefer horror films and fiction to be free of the supernatural. There are exceptions, but they have to be…well…exceptional. I’ve always felt the scariest monsters are all too human and, very likely in their own minds, not monsters. A novel such as Jim Thompson’s The Killer inside Me and a movie such as Kalifornia are frightening precisely because the characters in them are credible. A recurring figure among all too human screen monsters is the stalker, a character sometimes motivated by material gain (Wait until Dark), sometimes by sadistic playfulness (Duel), and sometimes by romantic obsession (Play Misty for Me). For some reason the stalker genre was especially big in the last two decades of the 20^th century, and Greta (2018), available on DVD, is a throwback to the style of that era. That is a compliment.

Francis (Chloe Grace Moretz) is an innocent, but not too innocent, young woman who has recently moved to NYC where she works as a waitress and lives with a rich young friend named Erica (Maika Monroe). (Erica’s father gave her a loft as a graduation present.) Francis is still shattered by the death of her mother a year earlier and has an uncomfortable relationship with her father in Boston because, so we learn from their phone conversations, he is moving on. Francis does not approve. One day Francis finds a purse on the subway and returns it in person to the owner who turns out to be an older woman named Greta (Isabelle Huppert). She connects with Greta and they soon develop an ersatz mother-daughter friendship. Something, however, is off, and when Francis finds a cabinet full of purses in Greta’s home, she is shaken. How many other purse-returners have preceded her and what happened to them? Francis tries to break off the relationship but Greta isn’t ready to let go. Greta stalks Francis and steadily ramps up her threats, which at first are implicit and later explicit.

Unlike many modern productions, the pacing of the film isn’t rushed, which works better for building suspense. The movie is entirely female driven with men in minor supporting roles. The director Neil Jordon (Interview with the Vampire) plainly had fun with this film. By all appearances French actress Huppert (Elle) did, too. The final act is a little hard to swallow for reasons I can’t explain without a major spoiler, but more sensible behavior by a character would have undermined the necessary climactic tension, so this is not a fatal flaw. The movie is no modern classic, but does what it does well enough for a Thumbs Up.

How common is stalking actually? That depends on the definition. Internet stalking is so common that it barely counts. Unwanted in-person attention is usually what we mean. This is a disturbing thing to experience despite it having been the theme of a creepy love song by (ironically) the Police. Fortunately (if that adverb can be used at all in this context) for most victims, the activity is far more often annoying than dangerous, but there are enough cases of the latter to be a cause for concern. While there already were laws against many of the common actions of serious stalkers, several high profile crimes – most notably the 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer by an obsessed fan – led in the 1990s to specific laws against stalking per se being enacted in all 50 states. The anti-stalking law of California, which is both prototypical and typical, defines a stalker thus: “Any person who willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows or harasses another person and who makes a credible threat with the intent to place that person in reasonable fear for his or her safety, or the safety of his or her immediate family.” According to the CDC 15% of women and 6% of men are stalked at some time in their lives. By a looser definition of the activity, the numbers are of course higher. The motivation of the stalker is often a romantic fantasy but there can be other motivations. Some people just want to be associated with someone famous, for example, and pursue a connection relentlessly. Revenge for some real or imagined slight is sometimes a motivation. In any case the goal of the stalker is to elicit fear and/or compliance. The self-styled romantics can be the most dangerous of the bunch. A month prior to the murder of Rebecca Schaeffer, her killer Robert Bardo had written to his sister, “I have an obsession with the unattainable. I have to eliminate [what] I cannot attain.”

The legal definition of a stalker may be relatively recent but the activity isn’t. History is full of examples such as the relentless pursuit in the 19^th century of Lord Byron by Lady Caroline Lamb or of Cecil Rhodes by (of all people) Princess Catherine Radziwiłł. Stalkers often are pretty normal and rational in every way other than their obsession. This is why neighbors and light acquaintances so frequently are genuinely surprised when they learn of an arrest: “What? Him?” There is no one single profile but there are some patterns in the numbers. Unsurprisingly, male stalkers heavily outnumber women but not by so huge a margin as one might guess: 77% to 23%. Most female victims (61%) are stalked by someone with whom they had a previous intimate relationship. A mix of casual acquaintances, coworkers, friends of friends, and complete strangers account for the rest. Men by contrast are more commonly (56%) stalked by casual acquaintances or strangers.

What to do if we experience this? If the activity meets the California definition, definitely tell the authorities. Even if the activity falls far short of that, tell someone. Don’t give the stalkers the attention they desire or they (especially the romantics) will twist your words and actions to give themselves false hope. The “don’t feed the trolls” advice for dealing with harassers online serves in real life, too. The good news is that 52% of stalking cases end in less than a year. The bad news is that the rest don’t. 9% last 5 years or more. The long-lasting ones overwhelmingly involve intimate exes who have trouble letting go. Commitment is not always a virtue.

Trailer: Greta