Irish thriller that gave Barry Keoghan first lead role now free to watch

Stephen Porzio

The director of the movie, who went on to make Cardboard Gangsters, has released it for free.

Stalker, the Irish thriller that gave Barry Keoghan his first lead role, is now available to watch online for free.

The 2012 movie was co-written and directed by Mark O’Connor, who would later go on to make the hit gangster drama Cardboard Gangsters.

It revolves around a mentally unstable homeless man (co-writer John Connors) and his attempts to save his new and only friend (a teenage Barry Keoghan) from the world and drug dealers (fronted by Peter Coonan) that make his life a living hell.

Stalker: Irish thriller that gave Barry Keoghan first lead role now free to watch.

Made on a low-budget, the movie earned solid reviews upon release for its contemporary themes, dark story and powerful performances.

According to O’Connor, it also wound up serving as a calling card for Keoghan that helped him land bigger projects.

Now for the first time, you can watch my 3rd feature film 'Stalker' embedded here. This is the debut acting lead role for Barry Keoghan. Stuart Carolan was at the premiere and rang me after & said what's this kid like to work with and I said he's great, you have to cast him and… pic.twitter.com/uaiWP0wP05

— Mark O' Connor (@markoconnorfilm) January 15, 2024

Posting Stalker in full to his Twitter account, the writer-director said:

“Now for the first time, you can watch my third feature film Stalker embedded here. This is the debut acting lead role for Barry Keoghan.

“[Love/Hate creator] Stuart Carolan was at the premiere and rang me after and said what’s this kid like to work with and I said he’s great, you have to cast him and John Connors in Love/Hate (John is co-writer and lead actor in Stalker). They’ve both gone on to do incredible work.

“Also starring one of the best Irish actors, the brilliant Peter Coonan and produced by my good friend and great director and TJ O’Grady and shot by Eoin Macken.”

Encouraging viewers to watch Stalker, O’Connor also added: “But be warned this is an 18 cert. Not for the faint hearted!”

As Keoghan recently earned rave reviews for his lead performance in the black comedy thriller Saltburn, a clip of his performance in Stalker went viral on social media.

This was because many non-Irish viewers were not able to understand what Keoghan was saying due to his accent.

As for O’Connor, he recently finished shooting his upcoming film Amongst the Wolves, which is set for a cinema release later in 2024.

You can also watch Stalker on the filmmaker’s YouTube channel right here.