In this feature length debut from Chloe Okuno, Maika Monroe stars as Julia, newly arrived in Bucharest with her husband, Francis (Karl Glusman). Francis works long hours, leaving Julia alone in their apartment. She becomes unnerved when she notices a man staring at her from across the street. That feeling turns to fear when firstly she thinks someone is following her when she goes out and then when she also learns about a serial killer, The Spider, who is decapitating young women across the city.
This is a very effective suspenser. Okuno makes full use of the unusual locations and Monroe is believable as someone who might just be imagining everything as a result of her loneliness. Admittedly, Julia makes some questionable decisions that leave her isolated and vulnerable, in order to progress the plot, but that is the norm in these sort of movies.
There is one extraordinarily creepy and tense scene on an underground train towards the end, that left me with a feeling of dread. The ending did not totally work, though, as Julia seemingly comes back from the dead in an unconvincing way, but it did not diminish my enjoyment of this very neat thriller.
Rating: 8 out of 10