U.S.A. | 1989 Directed by Scott Spiegel Starring Elizabeth Cox Danny Hicks Sam Raimi Color | 88 Minutes | Not Rated Blu-ray / DVD Combo (RA-HD / R0-NTSC | 2-disc set) Synapse Films Hold your mouse pointer over an image for a pop-up caption

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		Review by Brandon Tenold Film:7 BD/DVD:9

NOTE: Screenshots were taken from the DVD

Tonight, this supermarket is having a sale... All heads half-off!

Directed by Scott Spiegel, who's probably best known for co-writing the horror-comedy classic Evil Dead 2, Intruder came along at the tail end of the 1980s slasher movie boom. Largely overlooked since its release, early home video releases absolutely gutted the film (no pun intended) of its gore in order to secure an R rating. Despite this, the film managed to gain a small but devoted cult following over the years, and this unrated "Director's Cut" restores the film's kills to all their bloody glory.

In the small Michigan town of Walnut Lake, the night crew of the Walnut Lake Supermarket are preparing to begin their shift. While initially it looks like it'll be a pretty by-the-numbers night, the employees get a rude awakening when Craig (David Byrnes), the scorned ex-boyfriend of cashier Jennifer (Elizabeth Cox), stops by to try to make up with her. When Jennifer makes it clear she's not interested, Craig angrily refuses to take no for an answer (you can tell he's a bad boyfriend because he has a leather jacket and a mullet!) and ends up fighting with most of the staff. Even after they manage to kick him out, the creep is still determined to get Jennifer to come back to him, whether she wants to or not. Even worse, they all learn that store owners Danny (Eugene Glazer) and Bill (Dan Hicks) have decided to sell the store to the city, although it becomes clear Bill is not too happy about this. Of course, all these problems seem pretty trivial once the horribly mutilated bodies of the employees start piling up...

Shot on a low budget over a few weeks, Spiegel recruited some of his show-business buddies for help with Intruder, casting his pal Sam Raimi (director of the Evil Dead and Spider-Man series) along with his brother Ted Raimi (Evil Dead 2, Xena: Warrior Princess) in prominent roles. Ash himself, Bruce Campbell, even makes an appearance too, although despite his name being prominently displayed in the film's advertising, he only has a brief cameo at the end of the film. The real standout of the cast, though, is fellow Evil Dead 2 veteran Dan Hicks, the mustachioed character actor delivering a nicely unhinged performance. While Intruder never reaches the frenetic, loopy heights of Raimi's Evil Dead films, it's clear Spiegel learned a thing or two from working with his more well-known friend. One of the first shots in the movie is from the perspective of a shopping cart, and as the film goes on Spiegel gives us shots from the floor, a cup and even the inside of a rotary phone! The inventive camera work helps set Intruder apart from some of the more lazily lensed slasher films that were so common during the '80s, proving that a good filmmaker can flex his creative muscles even on a minimal budget.

If I have one major complaint about the film, it's that it takes a bit too long to get going. The first on-screen kill doesn't occur until well over a third into the movie, and while I'm all for setting the mood and getting to know the characters, that's a bit too long for this type of movie. Once the blood does get flowing though, it never lets up until the end, with the special effects team of Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman and Greg Nicotero turning in some of the gooiest, most creative kills of the decade. Just about every way you can imagine someone being brutally killed in a grocery store is featured in this movie: meat hooks, cleavers, a slicing machine, you name it — it's in here, and in this Director's Cut, Spiegel doesn't shy away from showing all the gory details.

While Intruder wasn't a game changer for the horror genre by any means, it's a well made film that features some fantastic kills and camera work, and it's easy to see why it has amassed such a passionate following over the years.

Now if only Bruce Campbell had a bigger role...

Synapse Films have done a fantastic job with this release of Intruder, offering the film in a Blu-ray + DVD combo pack, which has the director's cut version of the film previously released on DVD in high definition. As can be expected given the film's age and low budget, this Blu-ray is not going to be the best looking disc out there, with a fairly large amount of grain present throughout the film. Having said that, this is the best the film has looked since it first came out, Synapse doing a fantastic job with the film's restoration. Audio is DTS-HD MA 2.0, and again, while it's not the most technically impressive audio track out there, it does its job very well.

Extras include a commentary track by Spiegel and producer Lawrence Bender, which has several great anecdotes and only a small amount of dead air. The pair are surprisingly hard on themselves during the track, but it's clear they love the film and appreciate the experience making it. The biggest extra is a 40-minute making-of featurette called Slashed Prices: The Making of Intruder. It features interviews with most of the cast and crew, although Sam Raimi is strangely absent. (Seriously Sam, even Bruce Campbell found the time to make an appearance!) Other important extras include some footage from the work print of the film that extend some of the murders, some outtakes from Spiegel's now mostly lost Super-8 short film The Night Crew* which served as the basis for Intruder, and audition footage of some of the actors. All this is included in addition to the usual assortment of trailers and stills.

Synapse films have given Intruder an amazing Blu-ray release and the great extras should make fans of the film very happy. 1/04/12

* I'm really hoping this will be a wake-up call to Sam Raimi to include his pre-Evil Dead short film Within the Woods on that movie's next release!

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