{"id":4223,"date":"2012-02-04T01:54:25","date_gmt":"2012-02-04T06:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4223"},"modified":"2012-02-04T01:59:42","modified_gmt":"2012-02-04T06:59:42","slug":"br-intruder-1989","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4223","title":{"rendered":"BR: Intruder (1989)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>I<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Film: Good\/ BR Transfer: Excellent\/ BR Extras: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label: Synapse Films \/ Region: A, B, C \/\u00a0Released: December 13, 2011<\/p>\n

Genre: Horror \/ Slasher<\/p>\n

Synopsis: The night crew at a suburban grocery store are doomed to die at the hands of a mysterious maniac.<\/p>\n

Special Features: \u00a0Audio commentary with writer \/ director Scott Spiegel and producer Lawrence Bender \/ Featurette: \u201cSlashed Prices: The Making of Intruder\u201d (38:22) \/ Extended \u201cMurder\u201d sequences from the original workprint (10:25) \/ Outtakes from the now-lost short film \u201cNight Crew\u201d (6:47) \/ The Slashing of Intruder with filmmaker Vincent Pereira (3:26) \/ Original cast audition footage (11:04) \/ Behind-the-scenes still gallery (4:20) \/ Original theatrical trailer + Night Crew cable TV trailer \/ Bonus DVD with identical extras<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Review:<\/p>\n

Scott Spiegel\u2019s early association with Sam Raimi pretty much guaranteed he would get his own chance to become involved in theatrical filmmaking, and Spiegel\u2019s first big break came as co-writer of Evil Dead II<\/strong> (1987), a cult hit that eventually led to a lucky opportunity to have a slasher script of his own developed from a Super 8 short (titled \u201cNight Crew\u201d) into a 35mm production.<\/p>\n

Originally titled Night Crew: The Final Checkout<\/strong> and rebranded Intruder<\/strong>, the film was executive produced by Charles Band, but after Empire Pictures underwent grievous financial problems (er, it was dying), the film was released by Paramount as a straight to video production, and the real guts of the film \u2013 the brutal gore effects, as profiled in an issue of Gore Zone \u2013 were gone. It would be years before the proper Director\u2019s Cut materialized on DVD in 2005, and Synapse\u2019s 2011 Blu-ray edition features a sharp transfer that captures every gross nuance of KNB\u2019s memorable special effects debut \u2013 the trio of make-up artists having just finished a contributing assignment on Sean S. Cunningham\u2019s Deep Star Six <\/strong>(1989).<\/p>\n

Spiegel\u2019s script is very simple: an overnight crew at a soon-to-be-closed grocery store is stalked and butchered by a madman. There\u2019s also enough character deaths to maintain interest when audiences aren\u2019t otherwise awed by the unbridled eighties makeup & hair, and Elizabeth\u2019s Cox\u2019s T-shirt with sewn-in shoulder pads, giving her character of Jennifer upper-body gravitas when she\u2019s rightly peeved at ex-boyfriend Craig (greasy, mulleted David Byrnes).<\/p>\n

Able to run amok in a shuttered grocery store after bribing a watchman, the production of the Intruder<\/strong> exploited every nook and cranny of the building, including the basement, loading ramps, attic, trash compacter, butcher clinic, and the spacious main floor with shelves packed with filler products.<\/p>\n

The cast were hungry to establish themselves, and the production team of generally twentysomethings managed to complete a commercial drive-in slasher with one extraordinary kill: the total bisection of a head during a state of traumatized consciousness. Secondary would be the crunching of a head in the compacting machine; coming in third is a Fulcian eye-poke; and the rest of the good stuff includes glimpses of the remains of the night crew, scattered in lobster tanks, descending down loading conveyors, or torsos housed in meat lockers.<\/p>\n

As to whether Intruder<\/strong> is a good<\/em> film, that decision is likely to be affected by the amount of one\u2019s affinity for Raimi\u2019s filmmaking troupe, and Spiegel\u2019s place within that hallowed team, given his subsequent film output has been fairly sparse and unmemorable. His best-known work is probably From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money<\/strong>, which features a wild array of preposterous shots that distracted from the film\u2019s wan script. Intruder<\/strong> suffers (to a lesser extent) from the same crazy angles that exist as gags rather than functional trick shots. POV images include the bottom of a garbage pail, the floor, inside a telephone, and perhaps the most insane \u2013 a slow-turning doorknob; if ever a director deserved the Sidney J, Furie Award for Outrageous Camera Placement, it\u2019s Spiegel. He doesn\u2019t outdo Furie\u2019s The Appaloosa <\/strong>(1966), but it\u2019s a good effort in camera madness.<\/p>\n

Without its gore, it\u2019s probably safe to say Intruder<\/strong> wouldn\u2019t have maintained much of a cult following, although because of its association with the Raimi clique, there is the novelty of seeing the Raimi brothers die horribly: Sam get spiked and hung from a meat hook, and Ted \u2013 playing a moron deserving a good death – is stabbed and dismembered.<\/p>\n

Bruce Campbell also makes an appearance at the end as a cop, flanked by producer Lawrence Bender as Campbell\u2019s partner, and some of the young actors went on to build their own careers, including Ren\u00e9e Estevez (The West Wing<\/strong>), and Burr Steers (director of Igby Goes Down<\/strong>, and Charlie St. Cloud<\/strong>). Dan Hicks, who co-starred in Evil Dead II<\/strong>, also had a small role in William Lustig\u2019s awesome Maniac Cop<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1988), alongside Sam Raimi, and that film\u2019s co-star, Campbell.<\/p>\n

At 88 mins., Intruder<\/strong> does move at a decent pace and there are some effective sequences, heavily benefitting from cinematographer Fernando Arguelles (TV\u2019s Prison Break<\/strong>) lighting skill. Synapse\u2019s BR features a clean HD transfer that doesn\u2019t scrub away the film\u2019s natural grain, and colours really pop from the screen, particularly (or unsurprisingly) reds, and the extreme pink makeup imprinted on Estevez and Cox. The mono mix is uncompressed, and the sound mix is fairly clean, balancing sound effects, and the terrible stock music that still makes Spiegel cringe, 22 years later (and rightly so).<\/p>\n

Extras include a lively commentary track between producer Bender and Spiegel filled with steady ephemera, and viewers can probably craft a drinking game based on the several hundred times Spiegel utters the words \u201cOh man!\u201d and the phrase \u201cBack in the day,\u201d the latter short-listed in 2011 from the United Nations\u2019 Annual Most Unwanted & Unwelcome Catch-Phrases.<\/p>\n

Bender and Spiegel also appear in Michael Felsher\u2019s superb 2011 making-of documentary, which covers the film\u2019s entire production, including many new cast interviews. There\u2019s also surviving audition footage, stills, and extended kill scenes from a rare workprint (of which the full workprint was available to the first 500 orders placed directly with Synapse).<\/p>\n

Unlike Raimi\u2019s Super 8 short Within the Woods<\/a><\/strong> (1978), which became The Evil Dead<\/a><\/strong> (1981) but remains unavailable due to specific rights issues, Spiegel\u2019s Night Crew<\/strong> is included on the BR. Well\u2026 sort of. Spiegel painfully admits he loaned his film to an idiot who never returned the film to the director, but Spiegel did have sync sound outtakes, so for the BR he created a scenes from the unused footage to give an impression of what the original 20 min. short looked like.<\/p>\n

Like Raimi\u2019s own early shorts (which often included contributions by Spiegel), they\u2019re elaborate, moody, and fun, and the brief scenes provide a taste of what was sadly lost. (Film music fans will also be amused to hear music cues from two well-known soundtracks embedded in Spiegel\u2019s surviving sound mix: Herbie Hancock\u2019s Death Wish<\/strong>, and Denny Zeitlin\u2019s Invasion of the Body Snatchers<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

The last extras include a short anecdote by filmmaker Vincent Pereira (A Better Place <\/strong>) on how his outrage towards Paramount\u2019s PG-rated video release resulted in a personal gift from Spiegel; and a pair of trailers which spoil not only the major deaths, but the killer\u2019s identity!<\/p>\n

This is a great package that supersedes Wizard Entertainment\u2019s 2005 DVD, and the cover art is appropriately grotesque, hinting at the severe body trauma that awaits the mulleted and pink-tinted night crew.<\/p>\n

Spiegel has had various bit roles in Raimi\u2019s films, and his directorial credits include the direct-to-video films From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money<\/strong> (1999) (2004) and Hostel: Part III<\/strong> (2011), plus My Name is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure <\/strong>(2004). Spiegel also co-wrote Thou Shalt Not Kill\u2026 Except<\/strong> (1985), and Clint Eastwood\u2019s dopey The Rookie<\/strong> (1990).<\/p>\n

Bender later produced a string of hits, including all of Quentin Tarantino\u2019s films, and the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting<\/strong> (1997) and An Inconvenient Truth<\/strong> (2006), proving ex-dancers \/ bit actors can find other career streams when things start to plateau.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amazon Links & KQEK.com’s Media Store:<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a> —– Amazon.com<\/a> —– Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0I<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ I . Film: Good\/ BR Transfer: Excellent\/ BR Extras: Excellent Label: Synapse Films \/ Region: A, B, C \/\u00a0Released: December 13, 2011 Genre: Horror \/ Slasher Synopsis: The night crew at a suburban grocery store are doomed to die at the hands of a mysterious maniac. Special […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[877,876,1070],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-167","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4223"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4223"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4227,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4223\/revisions\/4227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}