Matthew Morning works the floor of a busy Los Angeles clothing store when a chance interaction alters his life. He plays an under-appreciated song through the shop's speakers and catches the ear of Oliver, a rising pop musician who visits the store with his entourage. Oliver approaches Matthew, impressed by the selection, and hands him a backstage pass to an upcoming concert. Matthew accepts the invitation and attends the show; afterward Oliver invites him to join the group not as a hanger-on but as their documentarian. Matthew begins to film the band's behind-the-scenes life, following Oliver to rehearsals and shoots, carrying cameras and hard drives as he records portraits, candid moments, and video material intended for Oliver's forthcoming album cycle.

At first Oliver's inner circle resists Matthew's presence. Friends and staff treat him with suspicion and make him feel peripheral; they question his credentials and mock his amateur equipment. Matthew persists, offering visual concepts and editing reels that he assembles from the footage he collects. He stages visual treatments, supplies promotional clips, and helps package imagery that the team uses in the album rollout. His contributions increasingly satisfy the group's needs, and the atmosphere shifts from open hostility to grudging acceptance; peers who once dismissed him begin to include his footage in social posts and promotional material. Bolstered by these successes and by the visibility his association with Oliver brings, Matthew quits his retail job and focuses on documenting the musician full time.

As his visible connection to Oliver grows, Matthew's own following expands on social media; followers multiply on platforms where his behind-the-scenes clips circulate alongside Oliver's promotional content. One day Jamie, who used to be Matthew's co-worker at the clothing store and who also admires Oliver's work, reaches out and asks Matthew to introduce him to Oliver. Matthew reluctantly agrees to bring Jamie into the circle. Oliver and his team accept Jamie as the group's stylist; Jamie's role puts him in close proximity to Oliver and gives him an active creative function in shoots and appearances. Matthew reacts to Jamie's inclusion with jealousy and insecurity. He perceives Jamie's ease and proximity as a threat to his own influence over Oliver and to the legitimacy he has been building through his documentary work.

Oliver takes his entourage to London for a concert in the course of the album's international circuit. The group travels together, sharing hotel rooms, buses, and production spaces. On a London shoot Matthew's envy intensifies into deliberate sabotage. During a photoshoot in a production studio, Jamie climbs a ladder to adjust lighting or positioning; Matthew moves to interfere. He deliberately knocks Jamie off the ladder, shoving him so that Jamie falls and sustains injuries. Jamie hits the studio floor and requires medical attention for the injury he receives from the fall. Oliver's friends witness the attack and turn against Matthew. They confront him in the studio and then shun him in the following days; the group severs social ties and removes him from immediate access to Oliver. Oliver distances himself as well. Matthew attempts to apologize and to repair his relationship with Oliver, but Oliver refuses direct reconciliation and keeps him at arm's length.

Shunned by Oliver's circle and desperate for a route back to prominence, Matthew encounters two underage fans who have traveled to see Oliver. He supplies them with backstage passes he has access to and facilitates their introduction to Oliver, instructing or coaching the fans as they approach. Matthew discreetly records the encounter between Oliver and the two fans, capturing footage on his drives without Oliver's knowledge that the fans are minors. Oliver interacts with the pair under the assumption that they are adults, and the meeting proceeds in private spaces where Matthew's camera picks up moments that he judges to be compromising.

Armed with the footage, Matthew confronts Oliver and threatens to make the material public unless Oliver allows him to rejoin the entourage and permit him to complete and screen the documentary he has been assembling from tour footage. Matthew leverages the hard drive that contains the recordings as his bargaining chip; he insists that Oliver accept him back into the fold until Matthew finishes editing and premieres the film. Reluctantly and under duress, Oliver restores Matthew's access to some degree so that Matthew can continue to travel with the group and compile final cuts while the tour continues.

As the tour moves from city to city, Matthew accompanies Oliver and his friends to multiple shows. Oliver attempts to recover the hard drive containing the backstage footage. At several performances and stops Oliver confronts Matthew directly, pressing him for the material and demanding deletion. The confrontations escalate from tense verbal exchanges to physical searches of Matthew's belongings and attempts to wrest control of the drive. Matthew rebuffs Oliver during these encounters, hiding the hard drive on his person or in his equipment bag and refusing to unlock or surrender it. Oliver offers arguments that the footage must be erased to remove tension and protect careers; he tells Matthew that he sees Matthew as a friend and pleads that deleting the tapes would eliminate the strain between them. Matthew refuses those entreaties. He states that the pressure of the conflict and the visibility he has gained are integral to his development as an artist and to the documentary he is crafting; he insists on finishing the project and refuses to be dismissed as merely a yes-man or a hanger-on.

Tension culminates when Oliver's friends take matters into their own hands. During a leg of the tour the entourage stops the tour bus in a desolate area away from a venue and its staff. Several of Oliver's associates drag Matthew off the bus and beat him physically, striking and kicking him as they attempt to punish and intimidate him into giving up the hard drive. The attackers rummage through Matthew's equipment and clothing in the course of the assault, looking for the storage device he uses to keep his footage. The group's violence ends when they hand the retrieved hard drive to Oliver. Oliver takes the hard drive and moves away from the scene to examine its contents.

Oliver plugs the drive into a laptop and begins to search through the files. As he scrolls through folders and previews clips, he encounters edited segments of the documentary Matthew has been assembling during the tour. These sequences include not only the compromising footage that Matthew used to coerce his reentry but also scenes of daily life on tour--intimate moments of conversation, rehearsals, and stylistic visual treatments that Matthew has spliced together into a narrative work. Oliver watches the curated edits, and the material forces him to confront the fuller record of their time together rather than only the single moment Matthew weaponized. Viewing the edited documentary affects Oliver; he appears to reconsider his earlier posture toward Matthew. He pauses over sequences showing candid smiling moments, backstage frustrations, and Matthew's perspective on the group, indicating a shift in his response to both the film and to Matthew personally.

The tour concludes and Matthew finishes the edit of his documentary. He submits the film for exhibition and it is selected to premiere at a film festival. At the premiere a large audience fills the screening room. Matthew's documentary runs in front of the assembled crowd and receives an enthusiastic response of applause when the credits roll. Oliver joins Matthew onstage; the two stand before the audience as festival attendees applaud both the film's maker and the subject who appears within it. Following the screening, the festival hosts a question-and-answer session. Oliver answers questions directed to him about his music and about what the documentary reveals. Afterward, an aspiring photographer in the audience stands and directs a question to Matthew, asking how he arrived at his current position and how he moved from a retail job to directing a film that premiered at the festival. Matthew begins to respond. He starts to stammer as he searches for words to narrate the story of his path, and the film cuts off while he is still forming an answer. No characters die in the sequence of events described; the film ends on Matthew's interrupted reply as the audience settles and the credits roll.

At the end of Lurker (2025), Matthew, the retail clerk obsessed with pop star Oliver, fully asserts control over Oliver's inner circle, manipulating relationships and narratives to position himself as indispensable. The film closes with Matthew having blurred the lines between admiration and possession, leaving Oliver isolated and under Matthew's influence, while Matthew secures his place at the center of Oliver's world.

Expanded narrative of the ending, scene by scene:

The final act begins with Matthew deepening his infiltration into Oliver's life and entourage. He has moved beyond simply being a fan or a documentary maker; his goal is now control. Matthew orchestrates subtle conflicts among Oliver's friends and crew, exploiting their ambitions and insecurities to isolate Oliver emotionally. This manipulation is quiet but relentless, with Matthew positioning himself as the only person Oliver can truly trust.

In one key scene, Matthew confronts Shai, the gatekeeper to Oliver's home. Initially, she resists Matthew's presence, standing guard firmly. However, after a tense exchange filled with unspoken emotional undercurrents, Shai yields--not because of threats, but due to Matthew's persistent emotional gravity. This moment symbolizes Matthew's growing power and the exhaustion of resistance within Oliver's circle.

As Matthew's control solidifies, Oliver becomes increasingly withdrawn and lonely, despite being the center of attention. The film shows Oliver's conflicted emotions--he enjoys the devotion but resents the isolation it brings. Matthew's presence exacerbates this loneliness by driving wedges between Oliver and his other associates.

The climax reveals Matthew's true intent: he no longer wants mere recognition or acceptance; he wants to rewrite the narrative of Oliver's success to include himself as essential. Matthew's obsession has transformed into possession, where he seeks to merge his identity with Oliver's, asserting that he is the secret to Oliver's rise.

The final scenes depict Matthew firmly established in Oliver's inner circle, having manipulated his way to a position of power. Oliver's fate is one of emotional captivity, trapped by Matthew's influence and the toxic dynamics of fame. Matthew's fate is that of a shadow figure who has succeeded in becoming indispensable, but at the cost of genuine connection.

Thus, the film ends on a note of unsettling tension, with Matthew's quiet but insidious takeover complete, and Oliver left isolated within his own orbit. The story closes without dramatic violence or sudden twists, emphasizing the slow, creeping nature of emotional manipulation and the destructive consequences of conflating love with control.

The movie Lurker (2025) does not have any confirmed post-credit or after-credits scenes. Available sources, including detailed reviews and after-credits databases, do not report any stinger or extra scene following the credits. The film ends with a time jump showing Oliver more authentic and mature, appreciating Matthew's documentary work, but this is part of the main ending rather than a post-credit scene.

Matthew's obsession evolves from admiration to a desire for control and possession. He wants to reshape the narrative to convince Oliver and himself that he is essential to Oliver's success, not because of who Matthew is, but because of who Oliver is. This shift is a slow, insidious slide into emotional trespassing rather than sudden violence or outbursts.

Matthew uses strategic manipulation and social engineering to worm his way into Oliver's inner circle. He starts by making himself useful, such as being a 'dish bitch' at their hangout, and then engineers situations to step up his role. He sets people against each other and positions himself as the one person Oliver can truly trust, mastering deception and emotional manipulation.

Oliver's entourage, including his videographer Daniel and best friend Swett, are protective of Oliver and wary of Matthew. They each seek status, validation, and proximity to fame, playing different games around Oliver. The shifting hierarchies and power exchanges among them are central to the story, with Matthew disrupting these dynamics to gain control.

Shai acts as a gatekeeper outside Oliver's house, initially resistant to Matthew. However, after tense exchanges, she eventually yields not due to direct threats but because of an unspoken emotional gravity Matthew exerts. This moment highlights how Matthew's presence exerts a subtle but powerful influence over Oliver's inner circle, showing the emotional exhaustion and imbalance his obsession causes.

Oliver is portrayed as both the gravitational center of his social circle and the loneliest person in the room. He enjoys the devotion and attention but resents the isolation it brings. His unknowing complicity lies in how he tolerates and perhaps even encourages the devotion and manipulation around him, which feeds into the toxic power dynamics Matthew exploits.

The movie Lurker (2025) is rated R, indicating it is not family friendly and is intended for mature audiences. It contains themes and scenes that may be upsetting or inappropriate for children or sensitive viewers.

Potentially objectionable or upsetting aspects include:

• Psychological tension and thriller elements involving exploitation and parasocial relationships, which can be intense and unsettling.
• Themes of obsession, manipulation, and emotional exploitation within complex interpersonal dynamics.
• Some scenes may involve emotional distress, power struggles, and possibly life-and-death stakes, contributing to a dark and suspenseful atmosphere.
• The tone includes bleak humor and edgy content, which may not be suitable for younger viewers or those sensitive to psychological drama.

No explicit plot spoilers are revealed here, but the film's mature themes and intense psychological thriller nature make it unsuitable for children and sensitive audiences.