Panic

In director Sean Spencer's low-key but atmospheric thriller, physically and psychologically scarred journalist David Gyasi is enticed from the sanctuary of his high-rise home when a young Chinese woman in an adjacent tower block disappears. Comparisons with Hitchcock's classic Rear Window are obvious - reclusive Gyasi is a bit of a Peeping Tom. However, there are elements of Oldboy and Taxi Driver here, too, when the agoraphobic amateur detective skittishly infiltrates the London underworld to uncover the girl's fate, only to get himself in dangerously violent situations. Though languidly paced, Spencer's feature debut is never less than intriguing, and it's anchored by an incisive soundtrack and Gyasi's magnetic central performance as the haunted hero, who's compelled to do the right thing but is patently ill equipped to do so.