Lifetime Review: 'Stalker in the Attic'

Mel Carver (Jennifer Landon) was grateful to have met her boyfriend Ben Shields (Josh Close). After her husband's death left Mel to raise her daughter Brook (Tara Redmond Van Rees) on her own, Ben initially appeared to be just what Mel was looking for, with his moving in with Mel allowing him to grow close to Brook as well. But now, Mel feels she's rushed her relationship with Ben and no longer thinks they're right for each other. With that, Mel breaks up with Ben and asks him to move out, with Ben (while upset) seemingly accepting how Mel feels.

But as Mel struggles to reconnect with her daughter and considers pursuing a relationship with her charming co-worker Sam (Steve Lund), she has no idea that Ben has no intention of leaving her--and has taken up residence in her attic. Ben sees the Carver house as the only home he has, and he's willing to do whatever is necessary to keep it from being taken away from him....

Coming from Incendo, the same studio behind Lifetime films such as Separated at Birth and Abducted on Air, Stalker in the Attic (previously titled Within These Walls) suffers from a different variation of a potentially fatal flaw that has plagued several recent Incendo-made Lifetime features: poor pacing. While films like Abducted on Air have dull pacing that materializes in the middle after the initial inciting action has subsided, Stalker in the Attic has the misfortune of having such pacing issues occur in its opening act. After establishing Mel and Ben's relationship and breakup (as well as Ben's traumatic backstory) and how he comes to begin living out of Mel's attic and stalking her, the film takes a while before it becomes clear that Ben is dangerous and has intentions of not only staying in Mel's house, but of weaseling his way back into her life. As such, Stalker in the Attic becomes hard to get invested in right away, as while watching, I became convinced the film would just be 80 minutes of Ben lurking in the Carver attic and 10 minutes of drama when his secret was blown.

Thankfully, Stalker in the Attic eventually kicks itself into gear when it enters its third act, and the audience-alienatingly-slow opening even contributed a few unexpected perks. Many of those perks are connected to Ben Shields, who Josh Close plays in a low-key but nonetheless effectively creepy manner. With Stalker in the Attic's slow pace keeping Ben docile for so long, the moments when his monstrous side comes to the surface are made much more alarming than had Ben turned psycho the minute Mel asked him to move out. As excellent as Close's performance is during Ben's subtler moments of insanity, he truly shines during the third act when Ben's psychosis reaches its peak, and he shows both the audience and Mel just how dangerous he is.

The cast that surrounds Close is similarly strong, even if some are given not-so-strong characters to work with. Jennifer Landon brings some likable and sympathetic moments to Mel as she finds herself estranged from her daughter, agonizing over her recent breakup and whether she should give dating another go, and being unknowingly stalked by Ben (the scenes where Mel opens up about her struggles are the best). However, Mel spends much of the first act of the movie sullen, with the slogging pace giving us plenty of time to spend with this unappealing side of Mel Carver. This, in combination with her moments of being unnecessarily snippy with her daughter and the fact that the film's main conflict is only made possible due to Mel never deciding to check her attic as she begins to suspect something amiss about it, combine to make Mel a protagonist you'll struggle to maintain sympathy for as the film goes on.

The aforementioned "Extended Period of Sulking" problem also plagues Mel's daughter Brook, though thankfully, Tara Redmond Van Rees is given more room to develop Brook into a sympathetic character rather than the tired "Bratty Teenage Daughter" archetype (aided by the moments of genuine mother-daughter chemistry that emerge between Rees and Landon). Carolina Bartczak is entertainingly quirky enough as Mel's best friend/confidante Erin, and Steve Lund does well with the moments when he's able to make Sam a charming love interest and (at times) a relaxed and caring juxtaposition against the neurotic and self-centered Ben. But elsewhere, Sam is left as something of a flat character, with his only apparent role in the film being to spur Ben into his third act breakdown before disappearing once he's served that purpose. SPOILER ALERT The whole romantic subplot between Mel and Sam also ends on a sour note that harms Mel's already damaged character, with Mel abruptly ending things soon after Sam's near fatal poisoning because of unwarranted insecurity about Sam having children with his ex-wife. Spoilers Over

With much of Stalker in the Attic's sluggish pacing being found in its opening act, it might prove a challenge for some to keep watching, with the film's uneven main heroine only serving to exacerbate that problem. But once the film finds its footing, Stalker in the Attic keeps you in its grip as Ben's insanity comes to a head in a climax that's inadvertently made much more intense by the slow boil that precedes it. You may find yourself tempted to click away as the film goes through tedious territory, but stick around for the final act and Stalker in the Attic might have something in store for you that'll make the slog worthwhile.

Score: 5.5 out of 10 newspaper crossword puzzles.