Intruders (2011)

8 Comments

1. 

   Shannon Mooke from Toronto, Canada
   01 Apr 2012, 10:45 am

   I'm not normally a fan of scary movies but the inclusion of Clive Owenconvinced me to give this film a look and I wasn't disappointed. It'scleverly constructed & wastes no time setting up the creepy atmospherewhich lasts throughout. To some extent the storyline was predictablehowever the interesting ending left me more than satisfied. Here'shoping they never make a sequel as it's perfect as a one offexperience.

   Try not to watch the trailer or read anything more than a brief summaryand make your way to the cinema as soon as this one comes out as it'sworthy of a cinema experience!

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2. 

   Greenzombidog from United Kingdom
   01 Apr 2012, 10:45 am

   Two children from two different countries are seemingly haunted by thesame ghostly apparition. As the actions of this malevolent force beginto intrude more and more on their lives both desperately try to be ridof it once and for all.

   The best thing about this movie is that it plays on fears andexperiences that we have all had in our childhoods, the monster in thecloset, the beast under the bed. Waking up in the night and hearingspooky sounds. It's these parts of the movie that are most effective inthe scare stakes. Each time one of the children is cautiously peeringover their bed sheets you know exactly how they are feeling.

   Clive Owen as the father of the English girl is great. Playing theeveryman role of the father fearing for his little girls safety issomething he seems to take in his stride. The relationship between thefather and daughter is very believable and helps towards the tensioncreated later in the movie.

   The other family's story a young boy and his single mother, I founddistracted slightly from this story. Not that it's not interesting,it's just that I found the other story more interesting. The two doeventually collide and although you may see the twist coming beforeit's actually revealed it's still quite satisfying.

   The feel and some of the imagery of Intruders brought to mind the 80'smovie "paperhouse" which is a film I like and recommend if you enjoyedthis movie.

   The one real problem I had with the movie was the poor CG effects onthe ghostly creature haunting the young boy and his mother. It seemedstrange that they went with CG for one thread of the story and a muchmore convincing and creepier physical version for the other thread.

   I did enjoy this film but I felt that it drifted a few times during themid section. It's definitely one I could watch again.

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3. 

   theycallmemrglass from United Kingdom
   01 Apr 2012, 10:45 am

   This film seems to have a very low key marketing and I haven't evenseen many critics reviews for it despite it already opening.

   I found this to be a pretty decent supernatural bogeyman type thrillerwith some intriguing psychological twists and turns. The scares aresparsely spread but are effective when they do come. The storyline isquite compelling and is told in two completely separate strands whoseonly apparent connection is the bogeyman. It had me very engaged and avery creepy atmosphere is maintained.

   The performance from all the actors including the children were good,nothing outstanding, just played to realistic levels. There isn't a lotof emotional weight to the characters but I cared about the childprotagonists, who are victimised by the "Freddie Nightmare" style dreammonster.

   The last act is a good one but unfortunately, it was sloppily executed.The finale should have been more dynamic with a bigger impact on itsrevelations. Given the storyline, its a missed opportunity for thedirector. Also, there is a big chance you might see some twists comingdue to the film's narrative giving too many clues, again a bit sloppy.I did see the revelations coming to an extent but there was still atwist that I didn't expect. I do like the story, its a satisfying onebut the execution could have been much better which is a pity. Stillthe journey was an intriguing one, at times scary and definitely wortha watch.

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4. 

   D_Burke from United States
   01 Apr 2012, 10:45 am

   A supernatural creature terrorizes a child, and the adults in thatchild's life either dismiss the child's fears as nightmarish, or assumethe child has some sort of psychosis. This plot line has been done somany times that it's amazing that adults in present-day movies don'tsecond guess themselves more often.

   "Intruders" has a bit more of a clever twist to this tired horror moviestory line in that the terrorized child, 12-year-old Mia (EllaPurnell), at least has an ally in her father John (Clive Owen), who hasactually seen the being trying to harm his daughter.

   The being, known to Mia as Hollowman, wears a dark hood and cloak thatmoves mysteriously in the air like something out of "The Matrix"(1999). The mysterious spirit has the shape of a man, but its face iscompletely obscured by its hood, making it look a lot like Bruce Willisin the underrated "Invincible" (2000).

   The unwelcome visitor does not speak, but Mia somehow knows it does nothave a face, and is willing to steal one from a child. Also, despitethe plurality of the movie's title, there is only one intruder: thisone.

   Mia is apparently not the only child haunted by this creature. A muchyounger Spanish boy named Juan (Izan Corchero) also receives visitsfrom it. The film intersects between the nightly terrors of Mia andJuan, and it makes you wonder what the connection is between these twochildren. Why did this spirit choose to haunt these two children in twodifferent European countries (Great Britain and Spain), when there aremillions of other children in this world whose face (or faces) he couldsteal? The way these two children's stories intersect is revealed latein the film in a twist I honestly did not see coming. Because it was soclever, I can't ruin it for you, the reader, either.

   Unfortunately, it being a horror movie and a suspense thriller, themoments that were supposed to be shocking, and scary, weren't either.The film made the fatal mistake of making the music, which graduallygot louder as a scary moment or a "gotcha!" part was approaching, ruinthe overall suspense. By the time the mysterious hooded person appearedfrom out of the dark closet, the score felt more like a great openingact for a weak headliner.

   The shock value of this film, or lack thereof, is even more unfortunatewhen you consider the superb cinematography and great acting from justabout everyone involved. Clive Owen rarely fails to disappoint, andfortunately plays a parent who actually believes his petrifieddaughter.

   I especially liked Ella Purnell, who is the kind of child actress whoguys in their 20's look at and say, "In five years, she's going to bereally hot!" Besides being strikingly beautiful, Purnell looksgenuinely scared during the scenes with the creature in the hood, andshe is very convincing as Owen's daughter in other less-intense scenes.

   I also thought every scene with Corchero, as Juan, and his mother Luisa(Pilar Lopez de Ayala), scary or not, was done incredibly well. Theyplayed in good contrast to scenes involving John and Mia. Whereas Johnbelieves his daughter's problems are more than nightmares, Luisabelieves her son, but uses words of comfort almost in vain. She triesto tell her boy it's only a bad dream, when she's really trying toconvince herself. It's a fascinating paradox.

   Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is best known to American audiences asthe writer & director of "28 Weeks Later" (2007), the well-receivedsequel to Danny Boyle's acclaimed "28 Days Later" (2003). He definitelyknows his horror films, which is why it's so disappointing that"Intruders" didn't live up to his previous effort. While great actingand a dark, eerie atmosphere strengthened this movie, it wasn't enoughto scare me.

   Putting it another way, I consider a great horror film one where myhands are covering my entire face except one eye, and two of my fingersare on standby to affix over that eye should a scary moment presentitself. With "Intruders", throughout the scary parts, my hands remainedat my sides.

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5. 

   Waleed Khalid (w_qidan@hotmail.com) from United Arab Emirates
   01 Apr 2012, 10:45 am

   A lot of us have came through this life stage where you wake up scaredand horrified, sometimes even screaming, because of a nightmare, mostof our parents used to calm us down and explain to us why those thingsthat scared you do not actually exist.

   Intruders (2011) staring the beautiful young actress Ella Purnell (asMia) and Clive Owen (as her father - John Farrow) makes use of thathorrifying situation when you know for sure that something is there inyour room and no one believes you. In the movie, since the monster waspassed on by the family, specifically by John Farrow and his Mexicanmother, Mia's father was the only one that could see the monster thatwas hiding in her room.

   "Intruders" is not a horrific story centered on evil forces trying tokill someone, it is rather a mysterious thrilling story that looks fora solution to get rid of a delusional monster that has realistic signsand effects on those who got connected to him.

   Very enjoyable and thrilling movie, deserves the time and money youwill spend, and our pretty young actress Ella Purnell who stared betterthan adult actors won't make you disappointed at all.

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6. 

   pozzible from United States
   01 Apr 2012, 10:45 am

   Ah, the twist! The "surprise ending", the "shocker", or lack there of.There is an art to surprising people at the end of the movie that isthe lifeblood of films like this. This one, unfortunately, is dry. Theydo a good job of setting up the scenes, making you thoroughly confusedbefore explaining everything. If you can make it that long, which youmight not be able to, it is a boring show and the pay off is somewhatweak.

   Now, the acting is top notch, Clive Owens does an very good job ofplaying father, and the supporting cast really commits to this movie.That said, it isn't enough to carry the film through the normal jumpsand grabs while you just sit there saying, 'get on with it!'

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7. 

   lostboytexas from United States
   01 Apr 2012, 10:45 am

   I can't figure out how this even got made. The story was boring anddragged out. The ending was beyond terrible and a major cop out. Thereare thousands of fantastic books out there that would make at leastsemi-decent films yet we get served garbage like this all the time. I'mstartled that there are positive reviews for this film on this site.

   I would think that at some point during the making of this turd thatsomeone would have asked the question 'why even bother?' Did someonelose a bet?

   On a side note, that dude from The Bill got old as hell!

   My advice is stay away and don't waste your time.

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8. 

   Alex Davies from United Kingdom
   01 Apr 2012, 10:45 am

   Heading to a local cinema to see a film reviewed as: "a descend in tofear and madness" (Dread Central) is an exciting experience. However,as soon as the film began, my heart sunk.

   The story is implausible at best and the actors seem to think this too.Some of them look bored at their own performances! The atmospherecreated in the Spanish scenes are more scary but at best, this filmcould scare a small child (probably 4 years of age) The twist stilldoes not account for major plot lines and leaves the audience dazed. Iheard one woman in the audience conclude: "What was that?" and anotherdebating leaving half-way through.

   This film has managed to top my list of the worst films I've seen.

   The only scary thing I remember was paying £8 to see it!

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