INTRUDER (1989)

INTRUDER (1989)

Tagline: He's just CRAZY bout this store!

(Horror, Mystery, Cleanup on Aisle 9) [R]

We're gonna get into so much trouble…

In this one, a cashier named Jennifer, that works at the Ranch Market has an ex-boyfriend that got out of prison and comes and harasses her at the store before closing. The store managers and employees get involved and he appears to leave. It is revealed in a night staff meeting that the store is being sold which brings even more stress to the situation. As Jennifer and the crew continue working through the night, killings start racking up but who is behind it?

Well, oddly some of the posters for this movie actually gave away the killer which is really stupid if they were trying to make this a horror mystery movie. With brief appearances by SPIDER-MAN director Sam Rami and Bruce Campbell, this movie garnered some attention because of that, but overall it’s fallen largely off the horror radar. I even saw it on a “Crap Horror” list on IMDb of all places, having said that, with streaming services like “Tubi” out there these days, almost nothing is “obscure” in the sense that it can’t be found. 

This movie was actually shot in a real grocery store at night when it was closed. The layout reminds me a lot of the grocery store I worked in for 10 years with the loft and everything. We even had some of the equipment they show in the movie. What we didn’t have though was a meat freezer with hanging meat that had blood all over it. I worked in produce and sometimes came in around 1am to get done in time to leave early on Sundays. It is extremely creepy being in a giant building of any kind alone, but grocery stores in particular because you can’t see the entire building from any vantage point. 

Acting wise I definitely recognized Elizabeth Cox who plays Jennifer. She was actually in NIGHT OF THE CREEPS (one of the best horror movies of all time). She is also in THE WRAITH, but only ended up doing 7 acting roles in total. Among the brief appearances, we get Renée Estevez who is the daughter of Martin Sheen. She starred in 44 productions but seems to have stopped acting in 2017. Her most famous role was in HEATHERS. The other notable actor is Dan Hicks who has been in several of Sam Rami’s films. 

Due to budget a lot of the score is borrowed from other films, but it’s still effective. Overall this thing was just too gory for my taste, but I know my saying that is going to cause some horror fans to be more interested. We do get a little character development before the mayhem starts which helps this thing out, but I had a hard believing the killer's motivations outside of maybe the thing that really set him off was getting some brain damage from a hammer to the head. 

Overall I have to give this thing a 1 out of 7. It didn’t really float my boat and I don’t see myself ever watching it again. If you are going to not at least put a mask on your slasher, then don’t make them just a regular middle aged dude that looks like your 7th-grade shop teacher. A bit more humor and a few more characters we liked living longer would have pushed things further, but ultimately it’s just trying to gore us to death at that, has never been why I watch 80s horror flicks. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF PHANTOM PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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