Intruder (1989)

In a time when horror movies were being heavily censored by distribution companies and the MPAA, Intruder was one of the films that received the short end of the stick. The tale of this film is sad but, light has shined its head upon this classic slasher film once again and fans finally have the opportunity to view the film as it was originally intended...UNCUT.

Intruder is about a night crew of a local Michigan grocery store. The crew finds out that the store is being sold and they will be losing their jobs in a couple of weeks. Unbenounced to them, someone is watching them, and eventually the crew begins getting picked off in gruesome ways.

Intruder is one of the later 80's slasher movies that really works amidst a slew of very bad low rate knock offs. However most of the public who saw the original release of the film may not agree with that. Long story short Intruder was made in 1989 at the tail end of the slasher craze. It was originally set to be distributed by Empire Pictures which was Full Moon owner Charles Band's first company which unfortunately when under. As a result of the company folding most of the unreleased films were sold off to other companies. Intruder was one of those pictures. Band sold the releasing rights to Paramount who released the film to VHS with an R rating and over 5 minuets of footage missing from the picture.

As a result of Paramount's misstep, the film was almost un-watchable, and incoherent. Many fans wrote the film off as just another ugly slasher film trying to coattail a dying genre. Fortunately this movie was no where near that. Written & Directed by Scott Spiegel of Evil Dead II fame the film boasts some very creative camera angles, as well as some very neat POV shots. Scott really nailed it. You can defiantly see the similarities between Sam Raimi's and Scotts shooting styles. This could be due to the fact that they grew up together in Michigan along with Bruce Campbell and Sam's brother Ted. This film actually started off as a short film shot by Scott, Sam, and Bruce under the name Night Crew. Unfortunately the film is now long lost.

 This films restored cut, is in fact a very cohesive film, and is extremely well put together. The film also boasts a very familiar cast consisting of Elizabeth Cox, Sam & Ted Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Dan Hicks and more horror familiars. Each doing a good job with their roles. The dynamic between characters seemed very genuine, probably because, for most of them, it was their first feature.

Most of the removed footage was that of now infamous K.N.B's effects. For those of you who don't know who that is think of Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Halloween 5, A&E's The Walking Dead, and more. As their first feature film Kurtzman, Nicoterio, and Berger did the film for next to nothing but proved they would be an effects company that would be around for sometime. The uncut effects in this movie are amazing some of the best and most gruesome kills I have seen in a slasher film for its time. Each kill makes your cringe and smile with sadistic delight. Not to mention there are some very creative kills thrown into the mix.

For the longest time this film would stay cut to shreds. Until Wizard Entertainment released a Directors Cut of the film with all the cut scenes placed back into the movie. But like most smaller slasher movies to be released on DVD the transfer was low quality and rather sub-par to what bigger companies were releasing at the time.

Now enter Synapse Films, In November of 2011 they released an amazing Blu-Ray & DVD combo pack of a newly remastered and fully uncut version of Intruder. This Blu-Ray sports a crystal clear 2k digital restoration and its the best it's ever looked. The colors are vibrant and the lighting is just right. Not to mention its loaded with special features. A 30+ minuet featurette of the making of the film made its way on  the release and it sheds a lot of light on the history of Intruder. Synapse Films has made its way into a die hard horror fans heart and as a result I want to pick up everything I can from them.

All and All, this film is a really good slasher. Granted it has the 80's cheese and some of the acting may be over the top at times but that is all part of the fun. Story wise Scott Spiegel did a great job of keeping the viewers on their toes, and adding a memorable setting to slasher universe. K.N.B's effects work shows exactly why they are still uber successful in the industry. GLP gives this film 4 out of 5 for great gore scenes and a very well written cohesive slasher film. You can currently still get the film from Synapse Films on Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack and you really should. View the trailer below and as an added bonus here are some behind the scenes looks at K.N.B's work while on the film.

Warning: Contains Spoilers

GLP Rating:

Warning: Contains Spoilers