{"id":9238,"date":"2024-11-30T11:51:37","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T16:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9238"},"modified":"2024-11-30T11:51:37","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T16:51:37","slug":"intruder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/30\/intruder\/","title":{"rendered":"Intruder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Intruder<\/strong> (1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Empire\/Horror-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes (Director\u2019s Cut)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unrated Version (extremely bloody violence, graphic gore, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Scott Spiegel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Scott Spiegel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Basil Poledouris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Fernando Arguelles\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 13, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Elizabeth Cox, Renee Estevez, Dan Hicks, David Byrnes, Sam Raimi, Eugene Glazer, Billy Marti, Burr Steers, Craig Stark, Ted Raimi, Aly Moore, Tom Lester, Emil Sitka, Bruce Campbell, Lawrence Bender, Scott Spiegel, Douglas Hessler, Greg Nicotero.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Body Count: 9<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0The year was 1989. The slasher movie genre was gasping its last breath with lackluster entries in the usually reliable Friday the 13th<\/sup>, Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween franchises. Audiences weren\u2019t flocking to them like they used to at the beginning of the decade. Ah, such fond cinematic memories of early 80s slasher pics like Maniac, The Burning, My Bloody Valentine, Graduation Day, Madman, The House on Sorority Row, Sleepaway Camp, The Initiation and so many others. I guess you could blame audiences losing interest on oversaturation although I see nothing wrong with too much of this particular good thing. I was (and still am) a dedicated devotee of the genre. I never let a slasher movie get by me. Well, that\u2019s what I thought until I stumbled across Intruder<\/strong> on Amazon Prime. How the hell did this one fly under my radar for so long? Am I losing my touch? Nah, not the Movie Guy!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Written and directed by Scott Spiegel, Intruder<\/strong> concerns a mad killer running amok in a supermarket after hours. His victims are the dim boys and girls on the overnight crew. They\u2019ve just learned they\u2019re all about to lose their jobs in light of the store closing for good. This would lead the viewer to theorize that the killer is a disgruntled customer pissed off about having to find another place to shop. Another likely suspect is Craig (Byrnes, Witchcraft 7), the angry ex-boyfriend of cashier Jennifer (Cox, Night of the Creeps) who\u2019s just been released from prison after accidentally killing a guy in a bar fight. He wants her to take him back; she wants him to leave her alone. It escalates quickly. It takes the entire crew to eject him from the store. True love knowing no bounds, that\u2019s not the last they\u2019ll see of Craig. In movie terms, he\u2019s what\u2019s known as \u201cThe Obvious Suspect\u201d. He couldn\u2019t possibly be the killer, could he? I\u2019ll never tell.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s not much in the way of plot or character development in Intruder<\/strong>. It doesn\u2019t really need it. The kids are little more than lambs lined up for the slaughter and what a slaughter it is! Before I get to that, let me introduce you to a few of the characters. Jennifer has the hots for co-worker Randy (Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi). He\u2019s into her too. They have a quickie make-out section on a checkout counter conveyor belt. Working the other cash register is Linda (Estevez, Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers), a good friend of Jennifer\u2019s. The two bosses are store co-owners Danny (Glazer, TV\u2019s La Femme Nikita) and Bill (Hicks, Evil Dead 2) who\u2019s less than thrilled about his partner selling the business. The rest of the crew consists of Dave (Marti), Bub (Steers, Pulp Fiction), Tim (Stark, The Hateful Eight) and \u201cProduce Joe\u201d (Sam Raimi\u2019s little brother Ted).<\/p>\n

\u00a0WOW and HOLY CRAP! Intruder<\/strong> is a freaking bloodbath! When it was initially released, most of the graphic content was edited out to ensure a more teen-friendly R rating. I saw the Director\u2019s Cut and I\u2019m still reeling from the experience. To be fair, it takes a little while to really get going, but once it does it delivers like you wouldn\u2019t believe. Not many people realize it, but a supermarket contains a disturbing number of instruments of death. Spiegel gets it and isn\u2019t afraid to show it in gory detail.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Now we get to the heart of Intruder<\/strong>, the kill scenes. THEY\u2019RE AWESOME! The victims meet their demise at the business end of knives, meat cleavers and meat hooks. One guy gets a paper spike right in the eye thus proving what my dad always said would happen if I handled sharp objects. Somebody gets their head smashed open in a cardboard crusher. The best kill, however, is the guy who gets his head sliced in half by a meat saw. It looks disturbingly real. NONE of it is CGI; it\u2019s 1989, get real! The incredible gore effects are the work of Gregory Nicotero, Robert Kurtzman and Howard Berger (aka KNB EFX Group) working their first gig. They would go on to do the effects for Misery, Army of Darkness, In the Mouth of Madness and From Dusk Till Dawn. One look at their work in Intruder<\/strong> and you\u2019ll understand why I prefer practical effects to CGI.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In addition to its cool bloody massacre, the store is literally strewn with body parts, Intruder <\/strong>is a stylish affair. It features some nifty camera angles obviously influenced by Sam Raimi mentoring the first-time director. The acting and dialogue are exactly what you\u2019d expect. However, I must say that Renee Estevez should have been the next big scream queen. I don\u2019t know why it didn\u2019t happen. As for the identity of the killer, I\u2019ll only say one it\u2019s revealed, it makes perfect sense. Why didn\u2019t I see it before?<\/p>\n

\u00a0I had an absolute ball watching Intruder<\/strong>. I saw something in it I never saw before; somebody being beaten unconscious by a severed head. Also, one scene practically made me jump off the couch. I had to stifle a scream so as not to wake up my wife sleeping upstairs. Okay, so Intruder<\/strong> is as dumb as any other 80s slasher flick. It contains every clich\u00e9 associated with the genre. It features brain dead characters whose biggest contribution is screaming real loud. The plot can be written on a matchbook; it\u2019s simplicity at its most simplistic. In this case, these are assets instead of liabilities. Had it gotten a wider release in \u201989, it would have given slasher movies a much-needed dose of fresh blood.<\/p>\n

TRIVIA TIDBIT: In addition to the Raimis, look for cameos by Nicotero and co-producer Douglas Hessler as a couple of locals, Green Acres co-stars Alvy Moore and Tom Lester as a pair of ineffectual cops and producer Lawrence Bender and Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell as the cops in the movie\u2019s final scene.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Intruder (1989)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Empire\/Horror-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes (Director\u2019s Cut)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unrated Version (extremely bloody violence, graphic gore, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Scott Spiegel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Scott Spiegel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Basil Poledouris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Fernando Arguelles\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 13, 1989 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Elizabeth Cox, Renee Estevez, Dan Hicks, David Byrnes, Sam Raimi, Eugene Glazer, Billy Marti, Burr Steers, Craig Stark, Ted Raimi, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror","category-scary-gory-wild-i-love-it"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Intruder-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9238"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9565,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9238\/revisions\/9565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}