Pitchforks: 1/5
Starring: Clive Owen
Rated: R
Release date: March 30
Breaking and entering is a crime. Its reach goes beyond its effect or loss of mere material possessions. It’s a violation of epic proportions.
Whether you are present when an intruder enters your home or made aware after the fact, the fear and panic will resonate long after.
Unfortunately, for the film “Intruders,” little is achieved in the declaration that this is either a “horror” or “thriller.” If any effect remains after exiting the theater, it should be the resentment of having wasted both time and money.
The film stars Clive Owen, a father of a young girl, who upon discovering a strange box in a strange tree on their family’s strange lot of land, is subsequently haunted and terrorized (using both terms extremely loosely) by a hooded boogieman with no face. The mission of the said apparition according to legend is to remove the faces of young children for his own.
“Intruders” begins by showing the same hooded ghoul terrorizing a young boy who lives with his mother. Having discovered a box that contains a scrap of paper detailing the core objective of the uninvited guest, the children stay up late trying to figure out “how the story ends,” all the while hoping it doesn’t return to claim their faces.
The girl goes as far as to share the short story with her class for presumably a show and tell exercise. Eventually, Owen and his wife are forced to address their daughter’s claims. In so doing, the father naturally becomes a suspect in part because he believes his daughter. No one believes them, and it is assumed that they’re just crazy.
In the end, the film attempts to tie the infinite supply of loose and irrelevant ends into something reminiscent of a twist, while also trying to give meaning to what people have paid money to sit through.
The aspect of the film that is most telling is that, just as with the story of the boogieman, no one “knows how the story ends.” This speaks volumes to the film’s lack of direction and delivery of a meant to be frightening tale of the fine line between the supernatural and psychosis.
Writers Nicolás Casariego and Jaime Marques along with director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo did themselves and audiences a disservice by not fixing the flaws within this story. Trying to ignore or distract from the holes inherent with this film by simply having a sometimes legless, always hooded boogieman fly in and out of bedroom closets and windows does not rectify the situation at hand — namely, the lack of a solid foundation for this story and the follow though to adequately tell it.
Like “The Ring” from 2002, “Intruders” hopes to scare audiences out of recognizing all that this film fails to do. Unlike “The Ring,” which actually spooked audiences, “Intruders” is predictable and disappointing.
If you’re going to waste your money, go see “The Hunger Games” (again).
Reach the reporter at jbfortne@asu.edu
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