Stalker

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Stalker

TV-14

1982

2h 43m

Sci-Fi

Adventure

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

47 Reviews

92%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

In an unnamed country at an unspecified time, there is a fiercely protected post-apocalyptic wasteland known as The Zone. An illegal guide (Aleksandr Kajdanovsky), whose mutant child suggests unspeakable horrors within The Zone, leads a writer (Anatoliy Solonitsyn) and a scientist (Nikolay Grinko) into the heart of the devastation in search of a mythical place known only as The Room. Anyone who enters The Room will supposedly have any of his earthly desires immediately fulfilled.

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Critics Consensus

Stalker is a complex, oblique parable that draws unforgettable images and philosophical musings from its sci-fi/thriller setting.

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John Semley

Salon.com

02/07/2019

It's a film that challenges us to be bored, while refusing to be boring.

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David Jenkins

Little White Lies

02/07/2019

Yet Stalker is a movie to be watched as many times as physically possible... It really is that astounding.

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Kristin M. Jones

Wall Street Journal

02/14/2018

There are no flying saucers in the great Russian director's haunting tale of a journey into the depths of a postapocalyptic landscape, but it offers visual splendor, as well as mysteries, portents and miracles.

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Joshua Polanski

The Rapidian

Dec 30

This self-restraint is alien to our present culture of instant gratification, and it’s also a lesson we could always hear again: we don’t always know what is best for ourselves.

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Siddhant Adlakha

Inverse

07/08/2025

Preserved within the sci-fi drama Stalker — between its elliptical cuts that bend space, and in its looming, lengthy takes that extend time — is the very essence of its director. There is perhaps no greater compendium of his artistic worldview.

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Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

06/26/2025

4/4

... an apocalyptically eerie argument that there is something more than the material world.

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Leprechaun K

@LeprechaunKing 11h

Movie is visually stunning as expected from Tarkovsky. It started well through the 1st half but due to its long runtime, 2nd half suffers from slow pacing. The philosophical dialogues overshadow the overall flow of storytelling.

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R K

@coldax Aug 20

One of the best movies ever

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Kyllian D

@RT79022429 Aug 11

Few films leave you thinking not about your life, but about themselves. Stalker isn’t a film you summarise, it’s one you walk through. There’s no lesson to take away, nothing to extract, so nothing to discard. It stays whole, and that’s why it keeps coming back to you. Cinema that doesn’t try to entertain you but asks something of you. That leaves you alone in front of it, without holding your hand. It takes time, patience, and accepting it on its own terms. But what it gives back, no other film does. A moment of happiness suspended in time.

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Woodle B

@RT89043581 Jul 31

Why exactly are we are supposed to like this?

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J B

@RT23478813 Jun 28

Worth watching for its cinematography, but the pacing is too slow for the story it's trying to tell. I love slowly paced films, but they have to give the audience something to think about. This one doesn't. Not really.

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Olvin C

@RT32664364 Jun 11

"To be honest, the pacing felt very slow and I didn't enjoy it as a casual watch. But looking at its artistic value, I truly respect this film. It is undeniably a masterpiece, even if it wasn't for me."

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Andrei Tarkovsky

Director

Aleksandr Kajdanovsky

Stalker

Nikolay Grinko

Professor

Anatoliy Solonitsyn

Pisatel

Alisa Freyndlikh

Zhena Stalkera

Natalya Abramova

Marta

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Synopsis

In an unnamed country at an unspecified time, there is a fiercely protected post-apocalyptic wasteland known as The Zone. An illegal guide (Aleksandr Kajdanovsky), whose mutant child suggests unspeakable horrors within The Zone, leads a writer (Anatoliy Solonitsyn) and a scientist (Nikolay Grinko) into the heart of the devastation in search of a mythical place known only as The Room. Anyone who enters The Room will supposedly have any of his earthly desires immediately fulfilled.

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Producer: Aleksandra Demidova
Screenwriter: Arkadiy Strugatskiy, Boris Strugatskiy, Arkadiy Strugatskiy, Boris Strugatskiy
Production Co: Mosfilm
Rating: TV-14
Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure
Original Language: Russian
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 20, 1982, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): May 5, 2017
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 18, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $258.4K
Runtime: 2h 43m

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