Primetime review

A blood-freezing thriller of a film carried by strong cinematic style and impeccable acting.

World premiere at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, 5 September 2026. Released in US theaters by A24 on 25 September 2026.

Right after watching Primetime and leaving the theater, there was the uncertainty of what had been felt after a chaotic watch. Horror, hype, confusion? And although it might bring some overwhelm to the mind, that is, after all, what cinema is about. There were a lot of “WTF?” moments, a few laughs, and sometimes being too far on the edge of the seat to exchange feelings through glances with friends. However, in the end, there was the confidence to say that this film left an impression with the novelty that Lance Oppenheim brought to the screen via the various elements the film experiments with.

Primetime centers its story around the reality show To Catch a Predator with its host Chris Hansen, which aired on NBC from 2004 to 2007 as part of Dateline NBC and built a big fanbase. The show’s purpose was to hunt child predators by baiting them into meeting a decoy actor, while volunteers from the vigilante group Perverted-Justice, such as its founder Xavier Von Erck, posed as children online. The film starts with Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen rehearsing the lines he will say to a predator they are about to expose on live television, and the audience is already hooked from the start and gets the picture of what this film and this man are about.

Lance Oppenheim carefully curates the scenes and audio to reflect the disturbing, dark nature of the reality show and the broadcasting environment: a constant hunger for views rather than an authentic intent behind the show. Robert Pattinson’s character is written and played, wonderfully so, also to elevate the intensity and the obsession with views, almost to the point of losing touch with humanity even in his personal life. For in one scene, the new decoy actor they hired, Dan Plum, beautifully played by Skyler Gisondo (cannot think of a better casting for this role), asks Hansen if the bracelet he always carries is his acting totem, and Hansen replies intensely with blank eyes: “I am never acting”, while clearly acting even then and seeming almost too alien to normal human emotions. However, Hansen is not the only character in the film who is obsessed with views and power. The show’s producer, Andie Bender, portrayed by Merritt Wever, seems to weirdly enjoy it when the show puts people on the spot, even when it raises ethical questions, and she constantly tries to have the final say in everything, taking pleasure in people being below her. And Perverted-Justice founder Xavier Von Erck, played by Matthew Maher, is disturbingly too eager to handle the job of chatting online and luring the predators in to meet the decoy actors, almost in a perverted way. However, in their minds, their unnatural behavior and what they push people to do, even to the point of a suicide that could have been foreseen, are justified by the fact that they are fighting the true “evil”, as Pattinson’s Hansen puts it.

Besides the storyline, it is clear that the film is made with cinematic concerns in mind, with vibrant, carefully designed color grading and chaotic close-ups to constantly evoke emotions in the audience. And it is successful in doing so, as the end product is a film that almost never gets boring. Cinematographer David Bolen shot the film on a mix of cameras, from MiniDV and old broadcast cameras to an Alexa 35, and this mix is one of the biggest reasons the film feels at times like a TV show and at times like a nightmare. Yet the second act tends to be slower than the rest of the film and raises subplots that never resolve or connect to the main plot. Andie’s indecision about leaving the show especially takes up unnecessary space in the film, without adding anything worthwhile to the story. Similarly, the film explores Chris Hansen’s affair during his marriage in several scenes, yet it never reaches a satisfying climax and dies out, lost in the main plot of the film.

Overall, the film’s greatest strength comes from beautifully written characters and all the actors skillfully bringing them to the screen. This might be one of Robert Pattinson’s best performances, as he manages to freeze your blood and make you realize the psychotic and obsessed nature of his drive to do this show. Merritt Wever portrays exactly the heartless producer who does whatever it takes to achieve success, with her subtle yet intelligent facial expressions and gestures. And Skyler Gisondo, as the newly hired decoy actor, plays and looks the part of a young aspiring actor too vulnerable to manipulation but also deep down hungry for success. His voice alone, when he pretends to be a little boy, leaves the audience disturbed but impressed, just as Pattinson’s TV-host voice does, which sounds nothing like his own voice.

With incredible acting, aesthetically pleasing shots, and added suspense, the film makes up for the questions it raises regarding the storyline. Lance Oppenheim’s first narrative feature, after his run of documentaries, lands quite well with its experimental style.