An early poster with the original title!
In this episode of Pop Culture Beast’s Halloween Horror Picks, I talk about an inventive, low budget slasher with a really interesting cast and crew – Intruder (1989)!
Directed by Scott Spiegel, from a script by Spiegel and Lawrence Bender, Intruder stars Elizabeth Cox, Dan Hicks, Sam Raimi, Ted Raimi, Burr Steers, Craig Stark, and Renée Estevez, and it features a brief cameo by Bruce Campbell.
This was one of the earliest productions from Bender, who of course went on to make his name as the producer of Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), and many others.
The story concerns the night crew of a tiny grocery store on the night they learn that they’re all about to lose their jobs. As the night progresses, however, most of them will lose more than that, as a mysterious killer stabs, chops, and slashes the poor employees one by one. It’s basically a really bloody whodunnit slasher with some effective red herrings and an impressive kill count.
The film’s notoriously gruesome makeup effects were handled by the guys behind KNB EFX Group – Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, and Howard Berger! This was an early project for KNB, but they have gone of to do the effects on over 400 projects, including Army of Darkness (1992), Hostel (2005), Piranha 3D (2010), The Green Inferno (2013), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012), The Hateful Eight (2015), The Walking Dead (2010-present), and literally hundreds more.
Intruder is a fun, little, late 80s entry to the slasher genre, with a great cast, a fun setup, and a sick sense of humor. It’s a must see horror movie for fans of The Evil Dead series, Sam Raimi, or Quentin Tarantino.
If you’re looking for something quirky this Halloween, with an offbeat cast and buckets of grue, I recommend Intruder. It’s a solid low budget slasher that I rate 8/10!
Look for new episodes of Pop Culture Beast’s Halloween Horror Picks every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in October! You can watch past episodes HERE.
Ryan Stockstad is a Los Angeles filmmaker with a passion for horror, documentary and experimental cinema. He has written articles for HC Magazine, Mostly Harmless Magazine and various blogs and websites. He has lectured on topics as diverse as low budget filmmaking, short story structure, and the influence of the Spanish Civil War on surrealist cinema. He hosts new episodes of Pop Culture Beast's Halloween Horror Picks every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in October.