Intruder (film)

Infobox Film
name = Intruder


image_size =
caption = Wizard Entertainment DVD Release
director = Scott Spiegel
producer = Lawrence Bender
writer = Screenplay:
Scott Spiegel
narrator =
starring = Elizabeth Cox
Renee Estevez
David Byrnes
Danny Hicks
Sam Raimi
Ted Raimi
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Paramount
Empire Pictures
released = 1989
runtime = 83 min. (R-rated version)
88 min. (unrated director's cut)
country = flagicon|USA USA
language = English
budget = 100,000 est.
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:25254
imdb_id = 0095379

"Intruder" (also known as "Night of the Intruder" and "Night Crew - The Final Checkout") is a 1989 United States horror film. It was written and directed by Scott Spiegel, the co-writer of "Evil Dead 2."

Plot

A local late night supermarket is shutting up and the night shift are starting to restock the shelves ready for the next day.

Just as the store is about to close Craig (David Byrnes), the former boyfriend of cashier Jennifer (Elizabeth Cox), appears and the two have an argument. Worried for her friend Linda (Renee Estevez) presses her panic button and calls for help. Co owner Bill (Dan Hicks) appears and a fight ensues. Craig escapes onto the shop floor and the night crew set out to track him down whilst Jennifer calls the police. On discovering him there is another scuffle before they manage to eject Craig from the store, after which he disappears into the night.

Whilst the night crew are gathered together, the owners announce that they want all the stock marking down because they are selling the store which will now close at the end of the month meaning the night crew will all be out of a job.

Outside Craig begins to make calls to the store, unnerving Jennifer. The police arrive but do little to help and just tell the group to be careful. Linda finishes her shift and takes some shopping out to her car but is stabbed by an unseen attacker.

Bill spots someone trying the back door and goes out to investigate. He finds Craig watching Jennifer through the bathroom window but Craig attacks him and clubs Bill over the head with a hammer.

Back in the store an unseen assailant begins to stalk the workers and the storeowner and kills them one by one. The killer dismembers a number of them and starts leaving body parts around the store.

Realising that everyone seems to have vanished, Jennifer goes to investigate and discovers some of the bodies in the storerooms. Terrified she is attacked by the killer but manages to escape back onto the shop floor. Hearing someone at the door she attempts to attract their attention but they have gone when she gets there.

Craig appears and grabs her but she stabs him with a meat hook she had grabbed from the storeroom. Craig slumps to the floor and Bill staggers in and tells her how Craig had attacked him outside the store and goes to call the police.

Jennifer notices that Bill's hands are covered in blood and realises that he is the killer. Bill tells her that he couldn't let his partner sell the store so he killed him and then began to kill the others to make sure there were no witnesses. Bill attacks Jennifer and chases her around the store. Jennifer tries got get out the front door but it's locked. A deliveryman appears outside but he is disembowelled by Bill who is standing behind him with the shop keys.

Bill lets himself back into the building and chases Jennifer once more. As she is hiding Jennifer is grabbed by Craig who tells her that he saw Bill killing one of the others and climbed into the building through the bathroom window to save her. Bill appears and clubs Craig to the ground with a severed head whilst Jennifer flees.

Crawling out of the window Jennifer attempts to escape in her car but finds the body of Linda in there. Bill grabs her legs and pulls her under the car but she stabs him with the knife she had pulled from Linda. Jennifer heads to a phone booth to call the police where Bill reappears again and starts to smash the booth to get at her. Tipping the phone booth over he has Jennifer trapped when Craig appears and hacks him with a meat cleaver.

Jennifer and Craig are stood in the car park over Bill's body when the police arrive and arrest them. Bill regains consciousness and shouts to the police that the pair had gone mad and killed everyone. The police take the two away protesting their innocence.

Cast

*Elizabeth Cox as Jennifer Ross
*Renée Estevez as Linda
*Dan Hicks as Bill Roberts
*David Byrnes as Craig Peterson
*Sam Raimi as Randy
*Eugene Robert Glazer as Danny
*Billy Marti as Dave
*Burr Steers as Bub
*Craig Stark as Tim
*Ted Raimi as Produce Joe
*Alvy Moore as Officer Dalton
*Tom Lester as Officer Mathews
*Emil Sitka as Mr. Abernathy
*Bruce Campbell as Officer Howard
*Lawrence Bender as Officer Adams
*Scott Spiegel as Bread Man

Director Scott Spiegel attended high school in Detroit with director Sam Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell. Spiegel often makes cameo appearances in Raimi's films.

Bruce Campbell and producer Lawrence Bender play the two cops at the end of the film. Scott Speigel makes a brief appearance as the delivery man who is disembowelled by Dan Hicks.

Production

The film marked the feature directorial debut of Scott Spiegel. It was filmed in an actual store in Michigan in 1987, shooting at night time when the store was closed.

Marketing

The Paramount VHS video cover (along with various other video and DVD releases) and the films trailers all reveal the identity of the killer, thus spoiling the films dramatic tension.

Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi and Ted Raimi are all heavily promoted as the stars of the film and their names feature prominently on video and DVD artwork. None of them are actually the stars of the picture; Sam Raimi playing a supporting character, Ted Raimi has a bit part and Bruce Campbell's appearance amounts to little more than a thirty second cameo.

Trivia

*Actor Danny Hicks also appeared in "Evil Dead 2" as the redneck Jake.
*The film retells the "head in one hand, sandwich in the other" story used in "Raising Arizona".
*Randy's (Sam Raimi) original death was to be gutted with a meathook. It was his brother Ted Raimi who came up the death seen in the film (eye impalement).

Alternate Versions

*The original VHS release from Paramount Home Video contained the R-rated version, which was missing 5 minutes of gore footage. Nearly all of KNB's effects footage was removed.
*The 2005 US DVD release by Wizard Entertainment presents the director's cut, but is considered a subpar transfer.

External links

*imdb title|0095379
* [http://www.critical-film.com/reviews/I/intruder/intruder.html Critical analysis of "Intruder" by Critical-Film.com reviewer Jason Pitt]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/film/intruder_is_god/ The First "Intruder" Fan-Site]