Not a horror film in the least Fantasy/Drama is more accurate. This film is neither as bad as some people here suggest, or as good as the, likely fake, reviews say. "The Lurking Man: is an uneven but compelling low-budget film, that offers an interesting narrative, based on a tired premise. As always, go look at what I review, I review tons of low-budget films, and I do not review them the same way I do big budget films, I adjust my expectations.
There are parts of the script for "The Lurking Man" that are brilliant, particularly the parts dealing with Cailean's alcoholism are well-written, realistic, and extremely depressing as they should be. I thought the depiction of her alcoholism was very realistic, and her downward spiral almost as difficult to watch as "Leaving for Las Vegas", though I am not comparing the quality of these films, they are continents apart. What drives her alcoholism is also a lot more interesting than your typical backstory for an alcoholic. The worst parts of this script, however, are the parts with the titular "Lurking Man", compared to the rest of the script, it comes off as very amateurish, silly, and just not dark and haunting the way it should be. Thus "The Lurking Man" is very uneven, as a drama about an alcoholic mother who is beyond redemption, it shines, but as a supernatural thriller, it falls 100% flat.
The direction is okay, not good, and cinematography is decent for the budget, nothing great, but not bad enough to make you hate the movie. For a low-budget film, sometimes, that's all you can ask. By design the scenes can be a bit jumpy due to flashbacks, it's not bad editing, it's just how the narrative is set up, for better, or for worse. Either you're going to like the way the narrative is layed out or you wont. It was hard to follow at first, as most films with jumpy narratives are, but as it went on, it made more sense.
Despite this, I found the film compelling, and the acting was good enough, even though Maritza has a very thick accent, it is because she is from Chile. Despite her accent, I found her performance convincing, compelling, and very depressing to watch, particularly a few scenes with her son towards the end. Based on what the credits say, she also wrote the script and directed(it does not say she directed on here though), which I find interesting. This is apparently, the second in a series, and from what I can tell, is actually a prequel to the first film "The Cursed Man".
I found this film interesting enough, I will likely seek out "The Cursed Man" and "A Sinful Man" when it comes out, but I can see why many people dislike this film. It isn't for everyone, and as stated earlier, some of it is not well executed, and takes away from the other compelling parts of the film. Some people will really enjoy the realistic depiction of alcoholism and forgive it's many flaws like I did, but others, will be unable to be so kind.
God Bless ~Amy
