Intruder

Intruder (1989)

Runtime: I saw the 88-minute Director’s Cut

Directed by: Scott Spiegel

Starring: Several random actors, plus Sam Raimi and his brother Ted

From: Phantom Productions

I did not view The Last Drive-In w/ Joe Bob Briggs (Friday) night; however, I know the double-feature was Intruder then… In a Violent Nature. The latter is an atrocious film that will never be seen again but the former had never been tackled by me. Henceforth, Intruder was viewed on YouTube, and it was the unrated Director’s Cut. As director Scott Spiegel is friends w/ Sam Raimi, Sam and his brother Ted have supporting roles—Bruce Campbell has a cameo in the conclusion.

Naturally, I’ve known of the film for years, and its unique setting of “grocery store.” The entire movie is one night at the Walnut Lake Market, where a creepy ex-boyfriend (Craig Peterson) harasses a young lady named Jennifer at her job. He runs out the store. Gory killings start occurring; there seems to be an obvious suspect but there is the announcement that the store is about to close…

The film is hit or miss; not all the characters I cared about. The ending I also question for several reasons. Be that as it may, that and other low-budget flaws did not ruin the experience. There’s some bizarre camera angles; a few of them did make me laugh, regardless if that was the intent. The highlight was the KNB effects. Viewing the Director’s Cut is a must as most of the kills were rather gory, and the gore was effective. The deaths in general centered around items found in a supermarket, as you’d probably want. 

As there’s a dark undercurrent of humor throughout-and there were some solid laughs to be had-Intruder was a fun time despite its flaws. Oh, and of course I appreciated that Three Stooges fans would have Emil Sitka (he was in the last short Curly starred in, then was in many Shemp shorts) in a cameo. He is best known for uttering, “Hold hands, you lovebirds!” in Brideless Groom, one of the four Stooge efforts at Columbia that became public domain due to a clerical error. People know that now for the clip appearing in Pulp Fiction. Well, now I realize that phrase must have been popular long before Pulp… Sitka says it here, and I marked out.