Review: Intruders

“PANIC ROOM meets YOU’RE NEXT in this gripping home invasion horror-thriller, full of shocks and surprises. After three criminals, including fan favorite Martin Starr, break into a supposedly empty house, they find themselves in a deadly game of cat and mouse with the occupant, a shy young woman with a few nasty tricks of her own to play on the invaders.”

Anna (Beth Riesgraf) suffers from crippling agoraphobia. She has spent the past ten years locked away in her house with her dying brother for company. When he dies, a group of intruders, believing Anna is at his funeral, break into the house to rob her. Unfortunately for them, Anna is still home and she isn’t as helpless as one might believe.

Intruders is a clever twist on the home invasion sub genre. It begins like the typical invasion film, a helpless woman is home alone when a group of men break in and hold her captive. She is unable to leave because of her agoraphobia, so even if she could escape, she really couldn’t. She knows the men’s names and faces, sealing her fate as they cannot just let her live to rat them out. Little do they know, Anna’s mental issues go far beyond the agoraphobia and she isn’t the victim they expected.

I loved this movie. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. First off, I appreciate the lack of rape. So often in home invasion films women are subject to rape before she gets her inevitable revenge. Perhaps the writer or director feels like the rape justifies the revenge. Personally, as a female, I have always found those films to be unnecessary and deeply disturbing. I am thankful that Intruders found a way to empower the “helpless” female without torturing her first.

Secondly, I really loved seeing Martin Starr as a villain. Too often he is portrayed as a nerd or a victim himself (Adventureland, Freaks and Geeks), but his sense of humor and a little facial hair gave him a solid edge in the “bad guy” category. Let’s face it, every group of bad guys needs a little comic relief.

Last but not least, Beth Riesgraf is beyond incredible as Anna. She is believable as crazy, but adorable in a way that makes her less terrifying in a terrifying way. She isn’t someone you would expect to be as unstable as she really is and the secret she holds is understandable, yet really disturbing in the way it plays out. I sincerely hope she does more horror films because we need more actresses like her in the genre.

Intruders is a much needed quality thriller that I cannot recommend enough. I strongly suggest picking yourself up a copy.

Intruders is now available on DVD from Momentum Pictures

=========================================================================================================
Ann Hale is the horror editor for Pop-Break.com and a senior contributing writer, reviewing horror movies and television shows. Ann attended East Carolina University, majoring in English Literature. She is a collector of Halloween (the film) memorabilia and is a self-admitted opinionated horror nerd. You can follow her, her collection and her cat, Edward Kittyhands on Twitter and Instagram @Scarletjupiter
=========================================================================================================