The overnight crew of a small town grocery store get the second worst news of the day when they’re told they’re losing their jobs.  Things get worse when a very angry nutbar gets inside and picks them off one by one.

Judging a Book by its Cover

-Lots of names from the Evil Dead series on that cover.  This was Scott Spiegel’s directorial debut and Sam Raimi is just an actor!

-I’ve always thought it was strange to list the producer of popular films as a major point of advertising, especially with a list of movies he didn’t do until after this movie.

-The cover is pretty bland…uh, nice use of the red gradient?  I’d still rent it based on the names but it’s not an attractive cover at all.

“I’m just crazy about this store!”

Directed by Scott Spiegel

Starring Elizabeth Cox, Renee Estevez and Danny Hicks

As the day turns to night at a small town grocery store, the workers close up for the night.  They’re the night crew, the ones who stay late to restock merchandise, cut up the produce and slice up the meat for the next day.  Things start off on the wrong foot when an ex-boyfriend of Jennifer’s (Cox) is seen lurking outside and starts a ruckus trying to get Jennifer back the only way he knows how: being a total asshole.

“We wish you well in your future endeavours…if you survive the night.”

After all that excitement dies off, Bill and Danny, the co-owners of the store, gather everyone together to drop the big bomb.  The store is being sold off and they’ll be out of work.  Their final task will be to mark down the remaining stock in preparation for the closure.  Bummer.  Bill is upset about it because he’d rather the store remain open but Danny owns 51% and he wants to take the money and run.

So that’s where that hand went!

Aside from Craig crank-calling Jennifer, the bad news quiets things down fast, but that’s when someone from inside the building starts murdering the staff in some ugly, brutal, disgusting, graphic, glorious ways.  No mercy is shown when it starts with Danny getting a bill spike through his eyeball and it gets so much worse from there as the killer utilizes some of the more unique machines found in a grocery store.  The staff meet there end by knife, box crusher, meat hook, meat slicer and more!

Every maniac thinks they’re funny.

If you saw the trailer or early versions of the VHS box art, the identity of the killer is given away, which really shows how much effort was put into the story.  Illogical advertising aside, while Intruder is a generic slasher released at the end of the big slasher craze where young people got killed in every way possible, the film dreams up some new ways to spread the gore and you get to see such featured actors like noted filmmaker Sam Raimi, his brother and genre vet Ted Raimi, Emilio and Charlie’s sister Renee and the almighty Bruce Campbell shows up for about thirty seconds because he’s good friends with director Spiegel.

Just as bad as going to the dentist.

The film doesn’t break the slasher mould but instead has fun with the unique setting and contains some of the more intense kills scenes I’ve seen in such a movie, the meat cutter scene in particular is nasty.  If you enjoy this era of slashers and haven’t seen Intruder, it’s easily worth a watch.

TL;DR

Story: 5 – It’s not insulting by any means, but it’s pretty standard as far as the genre goes.

Blood: 9 – This is easily the film’s best aspect, it’s gory as hell and no mercy is shown.

Nudity: 0 – No time for love, Dr. Jones.

Overall: 7 – Intruder sticks to genre standards for the most part but as I said before, the kill scenes are worth the price of admission alone so give it a shot.

Trivia

–Intruder is based on a short film called The Night Crew, made by a lot of same people.  That was also going to be the original title of the film but Paramount wanted a more marketable title before they released the film.

-The filmmakers made a deal with a company that deals with damaged goods and stocked the shelves of the store with dented and broken merchandise.

-The budget was around $130,000.

You have the right to hail to the king, baby.