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Intruder (1989)

   

Written & Directed by: Scott Spiegal

Produced & Story by: Lawrence Bender

Starring:


Elizabeth Cox .... Jennifer Ross
Danny Hicks .... Bill Roberts
David Byrnes .... Craig Peterson
Billy Marti .... Dave
Sam Raimi .... Randy
Eugene Robert Glazier .... Danny
Renee Estevez .... Linda
Burr Steers .... Bub
Craig Stark .... Tim
Ted Raimi .... Producer Joe

Cameos:

Alvy Moore .... Officer Dalton
Tom Lester .... Officer Matthews
Bruce Campbell .... Officer Howard
Lawrence Bender .... Officer Adams

Release Date: Direct-to-video: January 27, 1989 (Japan); April 19, 1989

Rating:

 

A supermarket is closing down for the night but beforehand a troublemaking punk named Craig (David Byrnes) has been harrassing his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Ross (Elizabeth Cox) who works at the store and creates a riot with the other employees eventually being chased out.
What makes things worst is that the head employer named Danny (Robert Eugene Glazier) announces that he is going to be selling his store which upsets everyone including his assistant employer Bill Roberts (Danny Hicks) as he tries to assure the employees that they'll give them referrals to future jobs.
Jen is a little shaken up by all of this and is getting calls from Craig making it worst as well as hanging around the store.
Liz tells her employee friend Linda (Renee Estevez) that Craig and her have been broken up for a year and served jail time for accidentally killing a man.
Suddenly while the employees are clearing things at the store a killer is hacking them away in various gruesome murders and Jen suspects that Craig is behind all of this but again she finds that Bill is still a little disturbed by closing down the store for good as it owned it for years with his partner Danny.

 

A rather pointless slasher film by the makers of Evil Dead 2. It has many mysterious moments and is very clever to have a killer in a big superstore doing away people there one by one but after watching it all the way through you'll be disappointed and really sad with an awful ending.
Yet, this film is saved from being below average as the slashings were very enjoyable to watch plus you don't spot much killings taking place in a supermarket like you'd see at a campsite or highschool.
The gruesomeness was one of the film's drawing cards as well as seeing the alleyways at the store spotting many cereal boxes and other things too. It also was a good environmental feeling before the killings happen with young employees socialising and getting along with one another as working employees.

The acting is not too bad as we even have a virtual unkown named Elizabeth Cox in the lead role who does quite well with her character as the troubled teen. It's surprising she doesn't get much more work but at times her energy lacks with the screams and getting frightened.
Danny Hicks
brings a nice charm to his part as the assistant employee in the film showing some great energy in his part and characteristics but however when he acts crazy it looked a bit rough. Of course this is a b-film as well as it being dated so it was fine for what it is for this type.
David Byrnes
had the right looks to play a punk in this film as well as a suspect for the killings. He even brings some character to his role when he gets abusive too. Sometimes it lacks now and then but he seems to pick it up. A shame he only had two roles in the trashy made for video horror flicks like the Witchcraft sequels afterwards and was missing in action after that.
Billy Marti
seemed charming in his role as the hearthtrob in the film and does what he had to do. However, he was very slacking when he freaks out seeing a murder.
We have producer/writer/director Sam Raimi as the main supporting role which is a surprise as he often gets cast having small parts if he ever does get a role. He breezes his way through well as the quiet butcher but fans of his may be disappointed when they find out what's happened to him halfway through the film.
Eugene Robert Glazier
brings a good businessman attitude in the film as the store owner Danny showing a good bluntness and seriousness to his part.
Renee Estevez was only in the first half hour of this film but seemed to be the stories drawing card too as well as this being her next slasher film after Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers. I never found her to be a terrible actress but she always seems soft spoken with almost everything I've seen her in. Yet she's passable in this one and had the right looks too as another employee. However, she continued to work in more low budget films that were non-horror as well as a semi-regular in her fathers TV series West Wing too as she was just starting off in shows like this.
Burr Steers
seemed a little too over the top with his part playing a goofy pothead type of employee in the film as he didn't do much for me.
We have a goofy supporting role by Ted Raimi who is unforgettable in his scenes even if he had a few lines.

This is almost as gory as and Evil Dead flick as an employers eye is stabbed through a paper spike
There is an eyeball in an olive jar
A kitchen knife is stabbed on a dweeby employees head
Another employee is stabbed in the stomach with the same kitchen knife
Someone's forehead is smahed off by a machine
A hand is wrapped in a meat packet and then placed in a lobster tank
A butcher is impaled on a meat hook
A nice teen is hit by a meat cleaver and then is head is sawed in half.
A girls throat is slit found dead in a car.
There's a decapitated head of the store owner.
The killer is constantly stabbed with a meat cleaver and a kitchen knife.
Yep everything you want in a slasher film.

Evil Dead 2 writer Scott Spiegal tried to take on this project by working as a director as well as writing it.
He proves to be more worthy as a director for this film than for his story with it.
He makes the film leaving you in wonder at first as you think who is behind all this madness at the supermarket.
There's a good shot on David Byrnes standing in an alleyway with a shopping cart standing there looking coldly while Elizabeth Cox is collecting shopping carts and then we have a good camera shot inside a shopping cart strolling towards Cox making it look eerie.
There's a good struggling moment between Cox and Byrnes in the supermarket with camera shots on the both of them. But yet there's people like Danny Hicks and Billy Marti brawling with Byrnes which looked a little weakly choreographed but of course it's not much of the directors fault on that as there's usually a choreographer instructing on what needs to be done.
We have a good goofy dialogue between Ted Raimi and Marti about a punk on the loose in the supermarket showing some interesting humor in it.
There's some nice shots on a camera looking up or down on cast members like Cox, Marti or Renee Estevez answering a phone near a checkout, putting away change or cleaning stuff up.
There's good reactions on the young cast when both Eugene Robert Glazier and Hicks telling everyone about selling the store with Hicks trying to cheer them up.
We also get a good camera rolling back and fourth with the cast discussing stuff and about looking for work.
A nice camera shot on a hand opening up a slide door to look at the bottom view on the employees putting stuff away in the supermarket.
There's a good dialogue between Cox and Estevez when Cox tells her about her break up and what happened to someone as it looked still and silent with a shot on Byrnes staring outside of the glass door while they're having the conversation and a nice quick turnaround by Cox looking at the glass door and no one is there.
We spot a good dialogue between Hicks and Glazier with Hicks trying to talk to him and Glazier just gets blunt with him.
We have a good shot on Estevez putting away groceries in her car and looking a bit frightened hearing some sounds and asking who is out there with a shadow reflecting on her trunk door and then a good shot on a knife raising up and a hand grabbing her neck.
We have a good dialogue between Marti and Cox near a register and then kissing one another which looked nicely romantic on two teenagers.
We have many good shots on cast members like Burr Steers and Craig Clark getting their feet dragged to a deadly machine in the meat shop.
There's good shots on Cox hiding in a meat room showing the hallway with the butchered meat giving it a nice dark feeling.
Sometimes his direction lacks when he coaches the actors freaking out while getting killed too. But he does show great scenes of them getting hacked away which saves this film from bombing especially showing the shadow of the mysterious killer.
Oh and he shows neat shots on Ted Raimi chopping away and packaging stuff for the next day listening to his walkman.

The music is is well composed by Georgia Robertson which is another point for this film as the sound effects are cheesily great for a slasher film with the deep icy sounds of the keyboards and other neat musical instruments involved with this film like some suspenseful classical music with the screechy music and the piano playing too. There's also the odd heartbeat sounds packing up the suspense during the quiet moments.
Some of this was reused in the exploited thriller Bedroom Eyes II

Mr. Abernathy: Hold hands, you lovebirds!

Linda: This creep keeps calling, he's driving us nuts

Linda: [Making out with her co-worker on one of the checkouts] We're gonna get into so much trouble

Jennifer Ross (After a butchered piece of meat on a hook slides towards her) Ugh... Not funny Randy!

Bill Roberts: I couldn't let ANYONE get in the way... and... I guess I got a little carried away!

Bill Roberts: Don't you see??? I'm just crazy bout this store!