The Intruder (1989)

Now this movie wasn’t really requested, although someone should have, but I did receive and email asking about Greg Nicotero and why I have so much enthusiasm for him and the company KNB FX. Well, for starters, Greg is one of the genres pioneers of modern hands on practical FX, along with Dick Smith, Stan Winston, Rick Baker and Rob Bottin. His work goes as far back as working with George Romero on Day of the Dead with Tom Savini. Anyway, I can ramble all day about this. The reason I chose this movie was this, was one of the first projects that he did alone, that and I really enjoy it.

For nearly two decades Intruder was a movie that seemed more talked about than seen and it became sort of a Holy Grail for genre buffs. After a small distribution in the late 80s, Intruder disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared a short time earlier. A good portion of the people involved, who were almost complete unknowns then, would go on to become heroes to a generation of horror and fantasy fans worldwide. Intruder sports an awesome cast consisting of masters of the genre like Sam and Ted Raimi and Bruce Campbell.

Part of the revamp of a tired premise has Intruder taking place almost entirely inside a supermarket after hours. A graveyard crew finds themselves locked inside with a maniac who intends to make good use of all the potentially dangerous weaponry a store of this ilk has. End of storyline. Luckily, the violence in Intruder is a gore filled feast for the eyes. There are lots of gruesome killings including an eye-gouging, hammer-beating and band-saw-head-cutting to name a few, which are delivered in such a gleeful and visually pleasing manner, it makes the shortcomings a bit easier to forgive.

Bottom line, I really dig the campy-ness of this flick and it works overall. It’s defiantly a movie to watch with friends to have a laugh or too. If nothing else it totally deserves a spot in anyones DVD colection.