Russian streaming platform Okko has released all eight episodes of the cyberstalking thriller Fake, starring Anastasia Krasovskaya as a targeted biology teacher. Film critic Pavel Voronkov of Gazeta.Ru described the project as one of the standout Russian television productions of the year following its release on the service between July 16 and August 20, 2026.
The detective psychological thriller, directed by Alexey Kuzmin-Tarasov, centers on Rita, played by Krasovskaya, who gained prominence in the drama series The Boy's Word. Rita teaches biology at an elite lyceum while running a popular science blog under the handle BioRita. Her plans to relocate to Moscow to lead her own research laboratory are upended just two weeks before departure when a mysterious cyberstalker begins targetting her.
Faced with police indifference, Rita attempts to unmask the extortionist herself, suspecting that the perpetrator belongs to her immediate circle of acquaintances. The stalker escalates the campaign to ruin Rita's relationships with colleagues, friends, and family, even endangering her life, affecting her connections with her best friend Marusya, played by Polina Aug, and her boyfriend Vanya, played by Eldar Kalimulin.
Constitutional rights and online leaks
In one scene, a rapid female robotic voice recites articles from the Constitution of the Russian Federation alongside commentary over a bristly electronic beat while Rita communicates with the harasser online. The voiceover cites constitutional guarantees covering personal privacy, family secrets, and the protection of private correspondence and telephone communications, framing privacy as a state-guaranteed right to control personal information and prevent the disclosure of intimate details.
During the sequence, the blackmailer leaks an intimate video recorded two years earlier without Rita's knowledge by her former abusive partner Borya, played by Vasily Mikhailov. Voronkov noted that while examining constitutional commentary is useful, the scene primarily highlights how effectively the showrunners created a paranoid thriller with dark, David Fincher inspired visual tones that evoke a total loss of personal security.
The campaign against Rita quickly transitions from digital harassment into physical sexual abuse. In the opening episode, the stalker uses Rita's account to organize a rape roleplay encounter with an unknown stranger. In the second episode, the stalker gains control over her remote-operated vibrator, an intrusion Rita keeps secret from those around her.
Social commentary and police indifference
The series highlights systemic gaps in Russian law enforcement, where existing legal frameworks fail to address cyberstalking, doxxing, and revenge porn, reflecting an informal police mindset that officers will only respond after a victim has been killed. Police officers in the series either dismiss Rita's reports or place blame on her, while societal double standards cause her parents to disown her as public criticism mounts.
Voronkov noted that commentators have drawn comparisons between Fake and Romanian director Radu Jude's film Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, in which a teacher faces school board condemnation over a leaked private video. However, Voronkov observed that Russian viewers do not need to look to the Berlin International Film Festival for reference, pointing to real-world instances where Russian teachers were fired over swimsuit photos, dance videos, or social media posts regarding sex.
Creators Sergey Levitan and Artyom Solovyov developed the series after reading about an American woman who endured ten years of stalking. The showrunners sought to explore how cyberstalking manifests within Russia's legal and social landscape.
Production team and creative background
Head writer and creative producer Natalya Dubovaya wrote the series, shifting away from her previous supernatural horror projects. Dubovaya previously co-wrote several horror films alongside directors Svyatoslav Podgayevsky and Ivan Kapitonov, including Mermaid: The Lake of the Dead, Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest, The Widow, Ice Demon, and Dark Spell. Voronkov remarked that while those horror titles faced criticism, they retained a distinct absurd charm.
Dubovaya previously teamed up with Levitan and Solovyov on the satirical anthology series Besit, which tackled social issues such as sexism and police misconduct. Dubovaya wrote an episode concerning domestic violence and unpassed abuse legislation, featuring Polina Aug as the ghost of a murdered feminist activist confronting a politician who had ignored her warnings.
In Fake, Dubovaya removed supernatural elements in favor of grounded psychological tension. Director Kuzmin-Tarasov, who previously directed the drama series Unfaithful about a woman suffering a nervous breakdown, utilized a cold visual aesthetic to reflect the protagonist's growing isolation while frequently depicting her in minimal clothing amid her burning paranoia.
Visual setting and plot progression
The narrative frequently returns to a countryside home built for Rita by her boyfriend Vanya. The house features large panoramic socket-like windows facing a dense forest, leaving occupants exposed to outside viewing before being fitted with surveillance cameras that eliminate private spaces.
Voronkov noted that while the detective storyline becomes somewhat repetitive as Rita continuously shifts suspicion among her peers, the show introduces an unconventional narrative twist at the midpoint of the eight-episode season. The shift alters the direction of the story heading into its conclusion.
In its final episodes, Fake enters psychological horror territory comparable to director Curry Barker's debut film Obsession. Voronkov argued that Fake dramatizes the proverb that affection cannot be forced more effectively and compellingly than Barker's feature film.
Festival premiere and series details
Fake originally premiered on June 21, 2025, at the seventh Pilot Series Festival in Ivanovo, Russia. The complete eight-episode season, featuring 46-minute episodes, subsequently aired on Okko from July 16 to August 20, 2026.
The ensemble cast also features Tatyana Struzhenkova, Timofey Ivanov, Anna Osipova, Denis Vasilyev, and Semyon Shteynberg alongside lead actors Krasovskaya, Kalimulin, Aug, and Mikhailov.
