Intruders (2016)★★★★☆

Apparently there are several horror/thriller films called Intruders. I reviewed a different one earlier this year. I’m considering watching another one tomorrow night but haven’t settled yet. I suppose it’s a good sign that watching this film makes me want to watch others with the same name.

I’ll admit that I went into this pretty sure the trailer gave away the whole story. Turns out I wasn’t far off. (Maybe spoilers ahead.) Of course it’s unclear from the trailer who’ll get out alive, and I was surprised at how entertaining it was finding out. I think most of the credit for that goes to Beth Riesgraf as Anna. I thought her performance was fantastic.

I was also impressed at Rory Culkin’s performance as Dan. I haven’t seen as much of Rory as I have of Macaulay and Kieran but I’d like to remedy that. In fact, I think there’s another scary movie of his that recently came out that I’ll have to check out.

This movie definitely didn’t feel slow. It’s a great example of pacing done well in a scary story. I’ll admit the “why” behind the whole thing – as hinted to early on and discussed explicitly towards the end – is contrived and cliched, but Anna is such a compelling character that it didn’t even bother me.

Anyway, there aren’t any big revelations outside of the trailer. If you haven’t seen the trailer and like scary movies, I’d suggest skipping the trailer but watching this movie. The only context you need is the title of the film. And perhaps its original title of Shut In. The element of surprise only works if you’re actually surprised, it turns out.