The Lurker is a love letter to the slashers of yesteryear. Unfortunately, it's like the letters Viggo Mortensen writes to his wife in Green Book before Mahershala Ali starts tutoring him.

The soundtrack consists of a stark synthesizer, and the name of the high school is Crystal Lake High; these two choices are a little too on the nose even for a 'homage', but it's the casting where the makers go too far – too far back in time, that is; they chose actors who were born in the 80's to play schoolboys and schoolgirls, for no discernible reason other than that was the era during which these films were at their peak.

Taylor Wilson, the protagonist, is played by Scout Taylor-Compton, who is 31 years old – and not even a very youthful 31; when her character turns out to be pregnant it's a surprise only because looking at her one would think her ovaries withered and died a long time ago).

And that's nothing compared to Miles, whose actor, Michael Emery, is 37 years old (a rather hard-lived 37, from the looks of it); that's older than the actor who plays his father. Ironically, Taylor and Miles have the Romeo and Juliet roles in the school play – the irony being that they are one hag short of Macbeth's Three Witches.

I'd say this is director Eric Liberacki figuratively winking at the audience, but The Lurker takes the rest of its material seriously, or at least as seriously as this material can be taken.