{2jtab: Movie Review}

Intruder - Blu-ray Review

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4 stars

Produced by Lawrence Bender, directed by Scott Spiegel (writer of Evil Dead 2) and starring Sam and Ted Raimi, Intruder is exactly the type of supermarket slasher film you’d expect from those wacky minds.  Intruder has one hand slopped in a bucket of gore and the other hand in the era of slapstick comedy and the two, when put together, operate quite nicely as a cohesive unit.  Made before the whole slasher genre came to a grinding halt in the late 1980s, Intruder, making its HD debut courtesy of Synapse Films, is a great example of the near-perfect cult film.

The premise is simple enough: Walnut Lake Market, a local neighborhood grocery store, is closing its doors for good in exactly one week.  Co-owner Bill (Dan Hicks) has let his night shift know of the situation.  Dire times, indeed.  Cashiers Jennifer (Elizabeth Cox) and Linda (Renee Estevez) wonder what they are going to do for another job as they prepare to close down the store.  Soon enough, Jennifer’s ex-boyfriend, Craig (David Byrnes) arrives to confront her about their nasty break-up.  Heated tensions between himself and her and fellow employees Randy (Sam Raimi), Danny (Eugene Robert Glazer), and Dave (Billy Marti) quickly cause the discussion to turn violent and Criag is booted from the building with a warning from the entire night shift.

They lock the door and wait for him to leave.

Unfortunately for them, it is all their last night working at the grocery store.  A killer is locked in with them; a killer that likes to use common grocery store items and machinery for his tools; a killer that has no face only one blinding purpose…to kill and kill again.

Written and directed by Spiegel, there is a nice sense of play behind the story and the sequencing of shots.  Early on, shocks are edited out and bracketed by common grocery store errors; a knife coming down into one man’s head quickly gives way to a knife slicing open a bag on accident.  Later, the shocks are firmly in place with some fantastic gore effects that, unflinchingly, never give in to the less-is-more sensibility.  Spiegel allows the camera to roll about all over the grocery store.  There’s a gonzo-like bravado that parades about behind some of the grocery cart shots.  Even the film’s editor King Wilder and its cinematographer Fernando Arguelles give praise to Spiegel for the creation of the shots and angles that keeps the audience on the edge of sanity.

The fantastic gore effects though – 22 years later – will completely have your head rotating.  They are phenomenal.  Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, and Howard Berger, working on a budget of straws and pennies, have created a celebrated heap of low-budget gore that continues to work on HD; it’s near flawless in just how realistic and over-the-top it is.  One poor sucker gets a blade through the gum line in his mouth and the camera never loses sight of the kill-shot.  Fortunately, Synapse Films has seen fit to restore the unrated version of the film and presents Intruder with all its fantastic gore.

With late-in-the-hour cameos from Bender himself and Evil Dead actor Bruce Campbell, Intruder is a definite must-own for any fan of Michigan’s celebrated film community and/or lover of clever-minded B-movie madness.

{2jtab: Film Details}

Intruder - Blu-ray ReviewMPAA Rating: This title has not yet been rated by the MPAA.
Director
: Scott Spiegel
Writer
: Scott Spiegel
Cast:
Elizabeth Cox; Dan Hicks; Sam Raimi; Burr Steers; Ted Raimi
Genre: Horror
Tagline:
If this one does not scare you, you're already dead!
Memorable Movie Quote: "There's gonna be one more killing here tonight."
Distributor:
Empire Pictures
Official Site:
home Video Distributor:
Synapse Films
Release Date:
No theatrical release
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
December 13, 2011

Synopsis: The overnight stock crew of a local supermarket find themselves being stalked and slashed by a mysterious maniac.

{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}

Intruder - Blu-ray Review

Component Grades
Movie

Blu-ray Disc
4 stars

4 stars



Blu-ray Experience
4 stars

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - December 13, 2011
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: None
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); DVD copy
Playback: Region A

Looking sharper than most low-budget 1980s affairs, Intruder boasts a 1080p transfer that is ripe for the plucking.  Fine detail pops at every turn.  Knives are sharp and deadly and glimmer with fine gloss.  Colors are vibrant.  Shadows are tall and cool and retain their depth through movement.  Nothing bleeds due to the resolution and fine contrast.  There is also a healthy level of film grain throughout the transfer that makes the film look more budget-friendly than it actually was.  The sound – presented here through a DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio track – leaves a little to be desired and, while not as strong as the picture, is perfectly adequate for the age of the picture.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • Spiegel and Bender provide the commentary here and, as expected, are as lively and wonderful to listen to as the film is to watch.  It is a track that is steeped in anecdotes and comments about the making of the film.  Worthy of note; however, are their comments on the gore scenes.

Special Features:

Along with the all-new 2K digital restoration of the original uncensored director's cut of Intruder, Synapse Films have provided the disc with some great supplementals.  In Slashed Prices, the cast and crew wax poetically about the making of the film some twenty years later and, by all accounts, they seem to have enjoyed their time working on the film.  The original super-8 short film of Intruder is included and so are extended murder scenes never before seen.  The original audition footage is also included and is worthy of a giggle or two.

  • Slashed Prices: The Making of ‘Intruder’ (40 min)
  • Never-Before-Seen Extended "Murder" Sequences from the Original Workprint (7 min)
  • Outtakes from the Now-Lost Short Film, Night Crew (20 min)
  • Original Cast Audition Footage (10 min)
  • Behind-the-Scenes Still Gallery
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • DVD Copy

{2jtab: Trailer}

 

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