f Murder, medium and manipulation in the metropolis

This article considers a cluster of twenty-first-century horror films that explore the idea of an urban hunter stalking victims in the city: The Last Horror Movie (Richards, 2003), Maniac (Khalfoun, 2012) and Nightcrawler (Gilroy, 2014). The urban context is discussed as a setting that surrounds, bewilders and potentially influences the action. Psychogeography and notions of urban space further inform the discussion, with particular reference to alternative means of urban exploration and spatial manipulation. The manner in which this architectural sprawl interacts with manipulative meta-filmic strategies will provide the framework for the examination of the fictional ‘urban hunter’ who inhabits, uses and sometimes guides the viewer through this space. We argue that this figure, both solitary and at home in the city’s rhythms, navigates the urban with varying degrees of effectiveness – an effectiveness that is not only limited to the on-screen prey, but also extends to an impact on the viewer invited or compelled to follow the protagonist, while her/his experience of the film is itself mediated and manipulated. This urban stalker both mediates and connects – sometimes alienating, sometimes directly and aggressively confronting the viewer, at other times seeming to align almost harmoniously with the medium, framing our view and promising the immediacy of a first-person experience – always, however, unsettling – whether challenging the assumption of our safe distance, or through jarring and ripping disjuncture, as the medium slips in and out of the frame, and as metavisual commentary intervenes to provide another mediating layer, made manifest.