Intruder (1989)
- Cody Iden
- Oct 19, 2021
- 2 min read
Release Date - January 13, 1989
Synopsis:
The overnight crew at a small supermarket find themselves trapped in the store with a brutal killer.
Directed by - Scott Spiegel
Screenplay - Scott Spiegel
Story by - Scott Spiegel and Lawrence Bender
Produced by - Lawrence Bender
Cinematography - Fernando Argüelles
Music by - Basil Poledouris
Distribution Company - Empire Pictures
Cast:
Elizabeth Cox - Jennifer Ross
Renee Estevez - Linda
Danny Hicks - Bill Roberts
David Byrnes - Craig Peterson
Sam Raimi - Randy
Eugene Glazer - Danny
Billy Marti - Dave
Burr Steers - Bub
Craig Stark - Tim
Ted Raimi - Produce Joe
Alvy Moore - Officer Dalton
Tom Lester - Officer Mathews
Special Appearances by:
Emil Sitka - Mr. Abernathy
Bruce Campbell - Officer Howard
Run Time - 1 hr. 28 min. Rated - R
Budget - $130,000 Gross - Unknown
Review:
A highly underrated slasher film, Intruder manages to have both a good story that keeps the audience guessing throughout and also the right amount of scares and comedy. The film features an interesting cast of unknowns with Elizabeth Cox as the film's lead and Danny Hicks as one of the supermarket's owners both delivering memorable performances. Also in the cast were several people who were already well-known in the horror community including Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi and Ted Raimi who had already worked on The Evil Dead (1981) and Evil Dead II (1987). The special effects are very good in the film, all of them done practically on a very meager budget, the resulting scenes are quite graphic and brutal as the film features kills involving a trash compactor, a deli slicer and even a hacksaw to very gruesome effect. The film also benefits from being filmed inside a real supermarket as it really helps to make this concept believable and confined and the cinematography is done very well. It is very impressive watching everything the filmmaker's were able to achieve on such a small budget and they deliver a more effective story and film than many films that had much higher budgets. This is definitely a horror film that deserves to be discovered by a wider audience as it is one of the better slasher films of the 1980s.
My Score: 76
Plot - 8 Cinematography - 7
Attraction - 7 Editing & Special Effects - 8
Theme - 7 Sound & Music - 7
Acting - 8 Directing - 8
Dialogue - 8 Enjoyability – 8
Trivia:
This movie was actually filmed inside a real supermarket in Bell, California in the evenings while the store was closed.
Originally the film was going to be called "The Night Crew" but this was later switched to the more vague title of "Intruder."
The Paramount VHS release of the film, along with various other DVD releases and even the film's trailer all reveal the identity of the killer thus spoiling the film.
Bruce Campbell receives top-billing of the film's DVD releases, he really only has a brief appearance towards the end of the film.
Availability:
Watched on October 14, 2021
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