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Unseen Horrors: 'Intruder'
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By the end of the 1980s, the slasher sub-genre was a shadow of its former self. Created in part by Bob Clark’s “Black Christmas” in 1974 and popularized by John Carpenter’s “Halloween” in 1978, slashers as a whole had gone from a new and frightening vision in horror to a clichéd joke. Everyone’s favorite slasher heroes were feeling that late-80s dull. Jason Voorhees had come back from the dead, fought a girl with telepathic powers, and then hopped a boat to Manhattan. Freddy Krueger took on a bunch of dorky mental patients, battled a different girl with telepathic powers, and was preparing to be a father. Michael Myers even got in the mix, returning from his grave to take revenge on his niece. Other than the release of “Child’s Play” in 1988, the late 80s seemed to be a complete bust. However, if you look hard enough, you’re bound to find something. 1989’s “Intruder” is that something.
It’s the end of the day at a local supermarket and the night crew is preparing to restock the shelves, when cashier Jennifer’s (Elizabeth Cox) ex-boyfriend Craig (David Byrnes) shows up and threatens her. A fight breaks out between him and just about everyone else working at the store, before he is forcibly removed from the building. The crew then finds out from the owners of the supermarket that they are shutting down operations at the end of the month and they’ll all be out of a job. The dejected crew goes about their business, while Craig stalks around the building. Then, one by one, the members of the night crew are violently murdered by an unseen killer.
“Intruder” marks the directorial debut of Scott Spiegel, the co-writer of “Evil Dead II.” It also features well-known director Sam Raimi in a bit part as Randy the butcher. Spiegel’s direction definitely takes hints from Raimi’s unique style, employing many of the same camera tricks found in the “Evil Dead” movies. But rather than feeling like a rip-off of Raimi’s work, “Intruder” comes across as a breath of fresh air in a genre that was steadily running out of steam.
There isn’t anything special about the acting in this film. What “Intruder” is most well-known for among horror fans is the level of violence and gore throughout. This is long before computer graphics were the norm for violence in horror. Here everything is done with prosthetics and red dyed corn syrup. It might not always look realistic, but I’ll take this over any of the cartoon violence in a lot of today’s horror offerings.
As the 80s fizzled out and the 90s began, the slasher continued down its dull road arriving far below mediocrity. Jason Voorhees went to hell, Freddy died, and Michael Myers was involved in some kind of confusing, idiotic curse. In 1994, Freddy tried to break out from the film world in “New Nightmare,” one of the only worthwhile slasher movies of the early 90s. No one cared though. It wasn’t until director Wes Craven brought a new slasher franchise to the big screen with 1996’s “Scream,” that the sub-genre started to gain back some of its lost footing. The fix was only temporary. While the genre may never return to its early-80s form, you can always find hidden gems like “Intruder” to remind you of the slasher glory days.
The trailer for "Intruder" follows. Beware, it spoils the ending.
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