Intruders (2011)★★★★☆

I would rate this movie at four out of five just for the acting in it. I try not to use the word “superb” lightly, but I feel like everyone in this film just did a superb job.

I love Clive Owen, and the emotionally distraught family man seems to be the perfect role for him. It helped that Ella Purnell (Mia) played the role of the daughter so convincingly. And did you catch Daniel Brühl as Father Antonio? Because he was also superb.

The pacing is a bit slow in this one and it seems to bite off more than it can chew at times. The opening sequence sets a far too ambitious tone that the rest of the film never quite picks up. Since the pacing is so weird there’s not a whole lot of built up tension, which is good because there’s not a big payoff to let any tension out.

It’s never downright terrifying but Hollowface is a pretty creepy antagonist and there are definitely creepy moments throughout. It doesn’t rely on jump scares…but then again it doesn’t rely on many scares at all.

If that all sounds bad, you should know that I quite liked this movie despite its faults. It’s, y’know, about family. And I liked it enough to put up with the fact that half of it is in subtitles! Sure, it helps that Spanish is one language I can mostly understand (albeit much more slowly than English), but a movie has to be at least pretty good for me to keep up with the subtitled bits.