Film

The Voyeurs

Name: The Voyeurs
Genre: Thriller
Released: 2021
Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Justice Smith, Ben Hardy, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Katharine King So

A couple becomes voyeuristically obsessed with their neighbours across the street, turning casual snooping into psychological addiction. Stylish and tense, it explores how easily invasion of privacy spirals into moral corruption. Best if you like watching smart people make worse and worse choices, and don't need the characters to be likeable.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy slow-burn thrillers that turn the act of watching into the real subject, where your unease builds from small choices rather than big set pieces.

Skip it if you want a brisk, twisty plot; this one lingers on voyeuristic tension and moral discomfort, and some viewers will find its pacing deliberate and its characters hard to like.

What it asks of you: Settle in for a lean, under-two-hour stretch that rewards patience, with a steady, mounting dread and an audience that stays watchful alongside the characters.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Rear Window1954

The template: a man watches his neighbours from his window and suspects murder. Hitchcock's masterpiece about observation, suspicion, and how quickly voyeurism becomes obsession. Essential cinema.

But Black and white, 1954 pacing—slower burn than modern thrillers. Some may find the gender politics of its era uncomfortable.

Unfaithful2002

Diane Lane's magnetic performance anchors a tense marital thriller about betrayal and obsession. Adrian Lyne finds eroticism and dread in the same spaces. Genuinely gripping.

But Runs long and occasionally melodramatic. The final act divides audiences on tone and morality.

Shame2011

Michael Fassbender in a relentless psychological portrait of compulsion and spiralling control. Steve McQueen's direction is glacial and precise. Devastating about addiction and isolation.

But Sexually explicit and very bleak. Minimal plot—pure character study. Not cathartic or reassuring in any way.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Voyeurs

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Perfect Blue1998

Both use the architecture of an apartment and voyeurism as metaphors for the dissolution of self. Both ask: what happens when you watch someone so closely you lose your own boundaries?

A pop idol's stalker blurs the boundary between her public and private self in this animated psychological thriller. Satoshi Kon's visual language is disorienting and precise. A masterpiece about identity and obsession.

But Anime still carries stigma for some. The narrative intentionally fragments—you're meant to feel as unstable as the protagonist. Not clarifying.

Gone Girl2014

A marriage unspools as obsession, deception, and media circus collide. Fincher's control is absolute; Rosamund Pike delivers a career-defining turn. Smart thriller that respects the audience.

But Long, and the second half pivots hard from mystery into something darker and meaner that doesn't land for everyone.

Killing Eve2018

An obsessive cat-and-mouse game between a detective and an assassin. Phoebe Waller-Bridge's dialogue crackles; Jodie Comer is mesmerizing. Darkly funny and genuinely frightening.

But Uneven across its seasons. The later episodes lose focus and the ending frustrates many devoted fans.

Play Misty for Me1971

Clint Eastwood's directorial debut: a DJ's casual affair spirals when his lover becomes dangerously unstable. Lean, propulsive, and genuinely unsettling. The template for obsession thrillers.

But Dating it shows; some tropes feel creaky. The third act becomes conventional revenge-plot melodrama.

The Game1997

Fincher's slick thriller about a man pulled into an elaborate game that blurs reality and manipulation. Inventive, paranoid, and darkly funny. A genuine original.

But The twist is divisive—some find it clever, others find it cheating. Requires buy-in from the first frame.

In the Cut2003

Jane Campion's sensual, jagged thriller about a woman drawn into a detective's investigation after a murder. Atmospheric and genuinely strange. Meg Ryan against type is excellent.

But Deliberately difficult and fractured. Sexually explicit in ways that feel challenging rather than titillating. No clear answers.

Paranoia2013

A young man caught between corporate espionage and his own paranoia. Liam Hemsworth rises above weak material; the surveillance paranoia is well-mounted.

But Generic plot that never finds real tension. The central twist is obvious. Feels like a demo reel for all involved.

Mulholland Drive2001

Both are about how closely watching someone can distort reality. Both suggest that obsession is a form of storytelling—we project narratives onto the lives we're observing.

Lynch's LA fever dream about two women, ambition, and the stories we tell ourselves. Haunting, sexy, maddening. Rewatch it and it becomes a different film entirely.

But Deliberately refuses to cohere into sense. The chronology is obscured; it rewards obsessive viewers and punishes casual ones. Some find it pretentious rather than profound.

Possession1981

Both use intimate spaces and the surveillance of a relationship to explore how love and obsession become indistinguishable. Both suggest that watching is a form of possession.

Andrzej Żuławski's unhinged masterpiece: a marriage collapses into psychosexual chaos and surrealist horror. Isabelle Adjani is ferocious. Deeply weird, deeply human, unforgettable.

But Brutal and incoherent by design. Visceral body horror, sexual content, and abrasive sound design. Exhausting to watch. Not for those who need narrative clarity.