Intruders (2012)

(aka The Misleading Title)
Release Date: In Theaters now (limited.)
Written by: Nicolas Casariego and Jaime Marques.
Directed by: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.
Starring: Clive Owen, Carice van Houten, Ella Purnell and Kerry Fox.

Being that this is Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's first trip behind a camera since his 2007 movie 28 Weeks Later, we expected him to have a little bit of ring rust.

He did, and it shows, but that's not to say that Intruders is a bad movie... it's just far more average of a flick than we'd hoped it would be.

Little Juan is having trouble sleeping. There's a faceless creeper that comes into his room every night, and he's more than just the product of the little Spaniard's imagination. All the way over in London, a little girl named Mia is experiencing the same thing. It seems as though her creeper is called Hollwoface; the subject of a story she's created about a faceless killer that steals facial features of little kids, because he too is a creeper.

Goodbye, face.

Mia's tough-guy Dad fights Hollowface off one night while he's trying to steal her face. No one believes either of them, because faceless creepers aren't something that most people find living in the closet. Everyone thinks Juan is crazy too. So yeah, it's one of those kind of movies.

"Oh hey, I uh, just want to borrow a cup of sugar... or your daughter's face!"

Together, Mia and her Dad have to figure out a way to fight of Hollowface, and convince everyone else in the world that neither of them are delusional. Then there's little Juan over in Spain; how exactly does he fit into this, and what is the connection between he and Mia? Are there multiple creepers messing with different kids all around the world, or is Hollowface just one creeper with magical teleportation powers?

That's just a coat. Maybe they are crazy.

Basically a story about childhood fear, and the love between a parent and their child, Intruders manages to be pretty engaging. The movie plays heavily on themes to convey a sense of Horror, as opposed to using normal genre convention. It reminded us of movies like The Orphanage or The Devil's Backbone, where pure Horror took a backseat to other aspects of storytelling. Intruders is a well made film, even if it lacks any serious punch.

Pretty little Ella Purnell stole the show in this one. She's only 15, but she's already a hell of a little actress. We're also big fans of Clive Owen around here. Sure, sometimes he just shows up in a movie and does nothing but be Clive Owen, but at least he's engaging. Finally, we have to give some love to Carice van Houten; she was good in this, but she's playing a hell of a role over on HBO's Game of Thrones, and it really shouldn't be missed.

Clive Owen is doing his best Clive Owen face in this scene.

The twist in this one was actually pretty interesting for a change, but it sort of killed the movie in a way. Without ruining anything, let's just say that the way everything came together in the end was satisfying as well as being fairly creative, but it changed the film from being one thing, to being something else altogether.

Also, Hollowface was a creepy and visually impressive villain, it's just a shame that he wasn't allowed to do some more damage in the movie. It felt as if he, as a great concept, was basically wasted. Being that the film focused on a small group of characters and had limited parameters to operate within, Hollowface really couldn't do as much as we would have liked him to.

This movie is basically devoid of blood and boy count. It does contain some fairly disturbing imagery though, kinda. Aw hell, it;'s just not that kind of movie.

That's fairly disturbing.

We do get a scene where Carice van Houten is totally naked. She seems to have no problem with nudity, and we find that to be and admirable quality in a hot woman.

She is no prude.

The Boogey Man is indeed terrifying, but in the end, he really doesn't do all that much. Also, in Great Britain, they say Bogey man, not Boogey. Crazy Brits!

Intruders is a well made film that walks the same line as some of Guillermo Del Toro's films do; it's not as thematically deep or as well crafted, but it shares some of the same themes and sentiments. What could have been a truly creepy and engaging movie ends up being merely adequate. It's worth a look see, but we fear that many will find it to be a bit dull and underwhelming.

C+

Melisandre from Game of Thrones is in this, and by "in this" we mean that she's "hot and naked in this." Why we just didn't say that to begin with is anybody's guess. We're complicated like that.