What is the iRankMovies score for Stalker?

Name: Stalker
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Genre: science-fiction, drama
Released: 1979
Duration: 2 h 42 min
Rating: 8

Stalker has an iRankMovies score of 86.4/100, based on a weighted combination of IMDb (×3.0), Rotten Tomatoes (×2.0), Metacritic (×1.5), and TMDb (×1.0).

Stalker (1979)

Сталкер

There's no need to speak. You must only...concentrate and recall all your past life. When a man thinks of the past, he becomes kinder.

Release:1979

Runtime:2h 42m

Country:Russia

Director:Andrei Tarkovsky

Language:Russian

Genre

Science FictionDrama

See the best sci-fi movies →

Keywords

Based On Novel Or BookGuardWishStalkerAlienStrugatskyWritersoldier

iRank86

Stalker rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb8/10· 155K votes

Rotten Tomatoes100%

Metacritic85%

TMDb8.087/10· 3K votes

With 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 8/10 on IMDb and 85/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.

About Stalker

Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted.

Cast of Stalker

Alisa Freyndlikh
as Stalker's Wife
Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy
as Stalker
Anatoliy Solonitsyn
as Writer
Mykola Hrynko
as Professor
Natalya Abramova
as Marta
Faime Jurno
as Writer's Companion
E
Evgeniy Kostin
as Lyuger, Owner of Cafe
R
Raimo Rendi
as Police Patrol
Vladimir Zamanskiy
as Professor's Telephone Interlocutor (voice) (uncredited)

Stalker facts

Original title: Сталкер
Budget: $120K

Our take on Stalker

Tarkovsky's 1979 science-fiction meditation guides two men through "the Zone," a forbidden, anomalous landscape where a room is said to grant one's deepest desire. Hypnotically slow, philosophical and visually sublime, it's less a journey than an interrogation of faith, hope and what we truly want. If its contemplative spell held you, seek out cerebral, atmospheric science fiction that prizes mystery and meaning over spectacle.

Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026Methodology Data sources