Whether by intent or simply mere fate, Scott Spiegel’s name will perhaps be forever linked to those of fellow filmmakers Lawrence Bender, Sam Raimi and Quentin Tarantino. Having gone to school with Raimi and collaborating with he and the one-and-only Bruce Campbell on several short films growing up, Spiegel would then go on to co-write Evil Dead II with Raimi and thus give birth to one of the greatest horror sequels ever made. Soon thereafter Spiegel would introduce Tarantino (a fellow worker at Video Archives) to fledging young producer Bender who subsequently helped him get Reservoir Dogs off the ground. And while his friends have enjoyed much critical and commercial success with these and subsequent films, Spiegel still seems to struggle against the odds of Hollywood, never truly having attained the recognition he so feverishly deserves. But if one were to pick out a career highpoint for this talented young horror buff, it would arguably be the much loved cult favourite Intruder - the most offbeat slasher film in existence.
THE LOWDOWN: The Walnut Lake Market is closing down once and for all and the final night crew are setting up the store for its evacuation sale. After serving the last customer of the evening, Jennifer (Elizabeth Cox) is visited by her ex-con former boyfriend Craig (David Byrnes) who demands they reconcile their differences and get back together. When the argument turns violent, Craig is booted out of the store and the police are quickly summoned to the scene. As the clerks resume their business all appears fine; that is until bodies begin to pile up around the store and Jennifer is left all alone to deal with a deadly intruder!
THE TERROR TALE & ITS TIMING: Another unfortunate victim of the late 80’s censorship bonanza against violent horror movies, Intruder was eventually released on video in several cuts around the world, most of them being heavily truncated of almost all its intended bloodshed. Long a collector’s item, the uncut version has now finally been released on DVD and features all gore intact, including the awesome meat saw killing. But aside from the added grue it’s also a shame the film has taken so long to get a decent release, as it’s also a stylish take on the standard slasher formula, due mainly to Spiegel’s nifty visual touches and tongue-in-cheek humour. His appreciation for the genre is evident in his relishing of its conventions, paying homage to several stalker films of the past as well as adding his own clever flourishes that help heighten the mayhem. There’s also a vintage nastiness and sombre atmosphere to the film that fans are sure to appreciate, having been made at a time when slasher movies were still in their purest form and weren’t yet concerned with the fashionable slickness of today’s body count pics.
There are, however, a few minor drawbacks in Spiegel’s debut outing that do prevent it from being a bona fide classic of the genre, most notably the occasionally lazy plotting. Besides a few key interactions with each other during Craig’s initial exploits and the staff briefing the characters simply spend too much time away from each other, thus a huge portion of the running time simply constitutes of watching each faceless character go about their routine store duties. Granted, this does help establish the areas in which they work as well as foreshadow the specific tools to be used in their demise, but it also results in a significant lack of interaction between the parties and thus minimal characterization. Such uneventful scenes also can’t help but feel like filler in order to pad out screen time between murders. Not a major problem but an evident one nonetheless.
DOOMED CHARACTERS: Whilst not a crucial requirement for these types of movies it does help to at least define some identifiable character types in order to build audience sympathy. The majority of the cast are pretty much cookie-cutter knife fodder for the killer and Spiegel’s script rarely allows them a chance to break free from their predictable teenage moulds. That said, there are some mildly enjoyable performances from a young Sam Raimi and his brother Ted as fellow supermarket workers as well as cameos by both Lawrence Bender and Bruce Campbell (who gets top billing in spite of his 30 seconds of screen time!). And at the risk of giving too much away, Dan Hicks (of Evil Dead II fame) makes an impression as the store’s co-owner who’s just a little too upset about the recent business foreclosure.
THE LOOK OF FEAR: In order to make up for their general lack of star power, conservative production design and minimal marketing junkets, low budget horror films often tend to strive for a strong visual prowess and astute displays of cinematic ingenuity in the hope of impressing audiences. And while by no means a masterwork of horror, Intruder does benefit greatly from its effective if slightly gimmicky cinematography, a combination of efforts by DP Fernando Arguelles and Spiegel himself. Over the years Spiegel has become known to fans for his innovative camera tricks and neat visual touches that help lend a certain comic book style to his storytelling and Intruder is no exception. Throughout the course of the film the camera constantly adopts the point of view of shopping trolleys, telephones, beer bottles and other such randomly chosen objects - even a doorknob is given virtual eyes of its own. Also Spiegel’s lens is rarely seldom fixed from a conventional perspective, instead opting for high angles, low angles, Dutch angles and everything in between so as to keep the viewer guessing its next move. This unpredictability also highlights the execution of the films’ solid make up effects; some early work from eventual Oscar winning gore gurus KNB. However, many of the killings are shot under very low lighting conditions, thus resulting in a bit of a squinting contest in order to make out any real detail of the red stuff. Regardless, the film’s conscious visual approach provides a certain level of engagement usually absent in many other standard exploitation cheapies.
THE SOUND OF FRIGHT: One of the things I’ve always loved about (good) 80s slasher films is their often simple but eerily effective synthesizer scores. Titles like The Prowler, The Burning, Splatter University, Graduation Day and others are infused with strong electronic themes that no doubt reflect their tiny budgets but also help in making things uncomplicated and direct with regards to building mood and suspense. I’ve never quite been able to pin down exactly what it is about these genre scores I appreciate so much…perhaps it’s just a nostalgic response to my childhood days when I’d coax my Mom into renting out these movies for me after school. Interestingly enough though Intruder’s score is not an original composition but rather a selection of pre-existing stock tracks - and yet it’s still one of my favourite scores ever for a slasher movie!
FINAL THOUGHTS: As far as I’m concerned, Intruder still remains Spiegel’s crowing directorial achievement. His subsequent efforts such as From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money and Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except..! are effective in their own right but none have quite matched the accomplished if flawed simplicity of his debut onslaught. And It goes without saying the film should always be viewed in its uncut form, otherwise it would be like telling a great joke and removing the punch line.
Dir: Scott Spiegel
Writer: Scott Spiegel
Cast: Elizabeth Cox, Renee Estevez, Dan Hicks, Sam Raimi
Country: USA
Run Time: 83min
Rated: R18+
The guy who gets his head sawn in half is one of THE all time great horror movie kills!! good review.
ReplyDeletethe first gore movies in the history of humanity, you can consider this as the parents of Saw and Hostel sagas, of course in that times the blood and guts don't look so real as as in our days movies.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part I agree. Modern day prosthetics are often more convincing than the good old days. That said, whenever there's too much CGI "enhancement" I almost always get distracted to the point of total disassociation.
ReplyDelete