The Stalking

Tired of being bullied, a teen makes friends with several others in town who are tired of being taken advantage of and decide to strike back against them with some targeted prank, but when they realize that everything is being upended by plants brought to life by a witch's curse, they must stop it.

There was quite a lot to like with this one. Among the better features with this one is the rather strong setup that manages to bring about some far more involved elements than expected. Starting with the initial concept of the witch's curse coming to play with setting up her motivation for seeking revenge against the town by casting the spell to bring the plants to life, there's a fun build-up to the secondary storyline about the bullied teens coming together to strike back against their tormentors which provides the necessary fodder for the main storyline throughout here. As there's quite a lot to like with the different motivations and backstory elements for what's going on and setting up the series of interactions featured within this one, there's a fun throughline to be had. As a result of that setup, this one comes off rather nicely with the series of encounters throughout here. The main focus is on the series of plants and trees coming to life and gruesomely killing others around town which offers the kind of generally fun encounter here with the first few encounters taking out the small-time drug dealers or the other stragglers around town in several fun brief shock ambushes. Bringing about more involved in the final half, this is where the film works the best with lengthy and over-the-top confrontations showing the killer plants or their controlling scarecrow being accomplished with the most realistic and enjoyably cheesy effects it can muster. As a whole, these are what work the most here while there are some minor issues to be had with this one holding it down. The main issue with this one is the far more involved storyline than it warrants, leaving it with a strangely scattershot approach that it doesn't need. This one is way too busy for what it's trying to accomplish, with the exploits of the witch's curse and the rampaging plant life being more than enough for this one to work alongside the bullies to get their revenge. This doesn't need entire storylines for the various random victims seen floating around as there are some excessive elements here that don't need to be there, oftentimes feeling like they're added merely for the sake of extra characters or trying to bump up the running time. As well as the expected cheap and flimsy production value that comes with these kinds of films, there are some drawbacks to this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.

A witch conjures evil spirits, which take the form of malevolent sunflowers, affecting individuals years into the future.

Please, please don't waste your time. I suffered so you don't have to. Every element is harrowing: the makeup, the acting, the CGI, the plot. Even the sunflowers look as though they've lost the will to live and ordered their own box of weed killer.

The writing was doomed from the start - a white-faced woman walking menacingly with a bottle of milk, whose main plan seemed to involve concocting some off-brand breakfast with an alarming amount of apricot jam.

It genuinely reminded me of the recent budget: a malevolent spirit stands before a small audience, attempting to cast a spell of doom and destruction. One instance was hilarious, one was depressingly real.

I understand this may appeal to fans of independent horror, but honestly, a Hallmark Christmas film contains more terror.

If I ever hear the phrase "Hello Rocko" again, I'll disconnect from the national grid.

1/10.

When I sat down to watch the 2024 horror movie "The Stalking", I have to say that the fact that this movie was a Mark Polonia movie never crossed my mind, as the movie's cover was so far off from the dubious crap that Polonia usually spews out. But had I known beforehand watching the movie that it was a Mark Polonia movie, I wouldn't have given it the time of day.

Writer Jeff Kirkendall put together a rather bland and unoriginal script. It was borrowing generously from other far more effective and entertaining horror movies, making "The Stalking" seem more like a rip-off movie than anything else.

The majority of the acting performances in the movie were wooden, rigid, terrible and just downright cringeworthy to watch. So don't get your hopes up here. And I've actually seen enough questionable Mark Polonia movie to be familiar with Jamie Morgan and Jeff Kirkendall, the only two familiar faces on the cast list actually.

The effects in the movie, while still fairly bad, were actually a step up for a Mark Polonia movie. So that actually was a nice surprise.

Actually, the movie's cover was the best thing about the entire ordeal. So don't get your hopes up for this 2024 movie.

My rating of directors Jeff Kirkendall and Mark Polonia's 2024 movie "The Stalking" lands on a very, very generous two out of ten stars.

This was absolutely awful. I originally turned it off after the first 10 minutes because it was beyond cheesy. However, last night we had a really bad thunderstorm so I put it on for background noise because my German Shepherd doesn't like the sound of thunder and it gives her high anxiety attacks. So I watched it a little bit and I was right in my original theory - it was awful. I kept it on anyways for her so her anxiety would lessen. I would say it was a waste of time but it helped her so that's something. The only reason I had even put it on the first time was because the cover art looked cool and I really enjoy horror movies. Nothing however, could have saved this. But if you have a dog with anxiety over thunderstorms but doesn't mind horror movies being on fairly loud then put it on for that.

I made it 2:19 seconds before turning the pile of crap off. I was way too late, I gave it far too much of my time. A 5'6" 240 lb woman with $12 worth of cheap makeup is all I needed to see. The makeup used up the entire budget and looked worse than the stuff I used in the 60's for Halloween.

I love horror and will watch anything related if it is even decent. This is a waste of film, oxygen, time and is embarrassing for 2025. It would have sucked in 1950 for that matter.