Top 10 Stalkers

Play Misty for Me (1971)

Stalkee: DJ Dave Garver (Clint Eastwood)
Stalker: Evelyn Draper (Jessica Walter)
Obsessometer: Fairly high – from regular requests for DJ Clint to play her favourite tune on his radio show, our first nutcase segues swiftly into seduction, jealousy, and turning up at his house unannounced; and then straight into the perennial chart-toppers of suicide attempts and full-on scissor-wielding lunacy.

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Single White Female (1992)

Stalkee: Allie Jones (Bridget Fonda)
Stalker: Hedy Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh)
Obsessometer: If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Hedy is really flattering: shedding her mousy appearance in favour of Allie’s style. And hair-cut/colour. And clothes. Because Hedy’s got dead twin tragedy lurking in the past, and wants Allie to fill the hole – and, when she doesn't, cue the psychotic stiletto situation...

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Fatal Attraction (1987)

Stalkee: Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas)
Stalker: Alex Forrest (Glenn Close)
Obsessometer: Hell hath no fury like a woman who knows how to make rabbit broth. Not for the first time, Mickey D’s character lands in hot water when little Mickey leads him into a saucy tryst with a votatile femme fatale who, when then shunned, goes fatale to the max. And his whole family’s in the frame.

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Cape Fear (1962)

Stalkee: Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck)
Stalker: Max Cady (Robert Mitchum)
Obsessometer: Less manic, frothing and tattoed than De Niro in the 1991 Scorsese remake, Mitchum’s Max Cady is a darker and more muscular threat – a convicted rapist, released from jail to poison the dog and terrorise the family – including the young daughter – of the lawyer who helped put him away.

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King of Comedy (1983)

Stalkee: Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis)
Stalker: Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro)
Obsessometer: De Niro knows how to bring the crazy, and had several shouts in contention for this list, but it's aspiring stand-up comedian Rupert Pupkin who makes it. Pupkin fantasises about being mates with a famous funnyman and, when that fails, opts for kidnapping and ransom to break through to the big time.

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Duel (1971)

Stalkee: David Mann (Dennis Weaver)
Stalker: A great big truck
Obsessometer: We never really see the driver of the rusting, 1955 Peterbilt 281 tanker-truck, so it’s all the more menacing as the front grill roars and chomps on nervy Dennis Weaver’s rear-bumper, intent on harrassing him into a fatal error. Superb, pared-down thrills from Steven Spielberg on feature debut.

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Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)

Stalkee: Laura Burney (Julia Roberts)
Stalker: Martin Burney (Patrick Bergin)
Obsessometer: Mad, bad, barmy Burney has such a nasty line in domestic violence and dominance that wife Laura is forced to fake her own death to get clear. But he’s a suspicious psycho, and has soon tracked her to Happy New Life, Iowa; there to line up her towels and stack her canned groceries. The maniac.

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The Lives of Others (2006)

Stalkee: Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch)
Stalker: Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe)
Obsessometer: Wiesler snoops on a playboy playwright and his winsome actress lover, but few stalkers have the spread of surveillance equipment available to him as an agent of the mid-80s East German government. Because this is his job – one that he ironically becomes worse at, the more involved he gets.

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Misery (1990)

Stalkee: Paul Sheldon (James Caan)
Stalker: Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates)
Obsessometer: This obsession’s right off the charts – hit author Paul Sheldon is relieved at first to be rescued from a remote, snowy car smash by his ‘number one fan’. But Annie’s critical of his latest manuscript and wants changes. And wants Paul to stay until the edits are done. And then gets the sledgehammer out…

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Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

Stalkee: Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks)
Stalker: Annie Reed (Meg Ryan)
Obsessometer: Hang on, you say – it’s sweet and the pursuit of true love and wonderful and romantic… but let’s face facts: Annie (cf. Misery) gets besotted with a nice guy on a radio show (cf. Play Misty for Me), writes a crazy letter, flies thousands of miles to spy on him and then lures him to a scary rendezvous atop the Empire State Building. Run, Sam. Run while you still can…

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