Author Bruce Cogburn (Guy Pearce) has been in hiding since a murderer claims his took inspiration from his first and only book, The Infernal Machine. Years later, Cogburn starts to receive letters from an obsessive fan, and he is drawn out of hiding.

This is a great set up from writer/director Andrew Hunt, and Cogburn’s near breakdown is pretty convincing. Pearce adopts a northern English accent for some reason but is totally committed throughout. Alice Eve is also impressive as the cop who tries to help him, and is central to a great twist.

However, things go awry in the last 20 minutes or so. The identity of the stalker is somehow both obvious and ridiculous. The climatic confrontation is pretty silly, undoing the good work earlier.

Rating: 6 out of 10