Intruders

Ah, the twist! The "surprise ending", the "shocker", or lack there of. There is an art to surprising people at the end of the movie that is the lifeblood of films like this. This one, unfortunately, is dry. They do a good job of setting up the scenes, making you thoroughly confused before explaining everything. If you can make it that long, which you might not be able to, it is a boring show and the pay off is somewhat weak.

Now, the acting is top notch, Clive Owens does an very good job of playing father, and the supporting cast really commits to this movie. That said, it isn't enough to carry the film through the normal jumps and grabs while you just sit there saying, 'get on with it!'

Two children, one in Spain, the other in England, are experiencing terrifying visits by the same demon who wants to possess them. The only viable link is that both children are writing a story...

A joint Spanish/English language production, Intruders is the sort of frustrating picture that has big and bold ideas on the page, but sadly on the screen in unfolds laboriously as it bites off more than it can chew. It came as no surprise to myself to find that upon opening internet sites frequented by horror fans, Intruders has greatly disappointed them. It's rarely frightening, sags desperately in the middle section, the pay off is weak, and ultimately it only skirts the boundaries of being a "horror" film.

So, the lack of shocks and suspense in bona fide horror terms needs to be tempered with genre expectation levels, this is more a family drama with fantastical horror elements lurking around the edges of the frame. This of course doesn't help anyone, like myself, who has bought into plot synopsis and the marketing strategy that accompanied the picture, but if able to see past the faceless demon that appears occasionally and promises something else? There's a decent and honest adult film pulsing away here.

Clive Owen plays the troubled father of the piece and he once again, as he did in Trust, shows that given this type of material he can deliver a performance of emotional substance. He's backed up by a very strong turn from young Ella Purnell as his daughter, and with the tech credits high - most notably Roque Baños' superb musical score - there is much to enjoy here. But as thoughtful as it is, and as solid as the film makers credentials are, its reputation is unlikely to be enhanced anytime soon. 6.5/10

People are too uneducated these days about scary movies, they think they should all be 'horror' movies. You'll see this 'disappointment' in a lot of reviews for this movie: Oh it was the worst horror movie ever, not scary enough, blah blah. But see,.. it's a Psycho Thriller.

It's about the mind. Not blood and gore, not melting flesh. It's about how horror comes to life around us - when it is real, when it is imagined, and when it's real because it has been imagined.

Good movie. Enjoy.

This sentence is here just because IMDb thinks reviews have to be longer than they need to be, and most reviewers agree, so they spend a lot of time telling you the same thing you just read in the movie description and how pleased they were to catch it at some film festival.

Well, OK, let me first start by saying the movie is not "bad".

If you want to go watch an OK to somewhat decent movie, this one is for you, but if your aspirations are any higher you should look for elsewhere.

The movie starts slow but surely it states it's points pretty quickly. An invisible invader haunts 2 different kids from different places, a little kid and a not so little girl. The movie flow nice with the script but the actual "fright" scenes are not very much so, in fact, I didn't experience any scare whatsoever through the movie, and this comes from a guy who after watching The Mothman Prophecies had to sleep with the lights on and had goosebumps for the whole duration.

Sadly, this one, for a scare-suspense movie, does the complete opposite, it's plain and quite hollow. We never really find the motive of the attacks, and the motives are vague to say the least.

The main problem with this one is that the "bad guy" is not scary and the scary scenes don't work, that's it and it's enough for a movie of this genre to fail.

If we take out this one little problem, the rest of the movie is OK, good acting and some good twists at the end, but, the main flaws are too big. Number one, lack of good scares, lack of sense of danger, bad timing and for the most important part, a lack of purpose for the attacks.

To add insult to injury, there are scenes so clichéd that bend on ridicule, I can't, for the life of me picture a scary movie where the parents LEAVE the children in the same bed where a monster just attacked them. The first time this happens, well, it's OK, it's movies you know, common sense don't apply, the fifth time it's ridiculous, I would sleep with my kids the first time this happens, does anyone there takes notices of this huge mistakes in common sense?

Recommended only for a casual viewing if you don't have anything more worth watching, if you want real suspense go watch Mothman Prophecies.

First off just a quick note, This is not a horror movie. I repeat this is not a horror movie but a drama with horror elements. Intruders is filled with some good ideas however the story and pacing fall flat on it's face. The movie tries to twist and turn the viewer with it's twist-ish ending but however it fails to create any emotion because it keeps certain details hidden from the viewer. The acting is okay throughout the film nothing great, but decent. however the one thing that kills this movie for me is the scene's where hollowface is all cgi. It's completely uncalled for and looks awful. I wish this movie could have been better but unfortunately it's lacking.