intruder

1989 Directed by Scott Spiegel

Halloween Day 20 Film 32

Intruder changes up a lot of the typical slasher genre rules- instead of personal home invasion we have a public space for mass slaughter. The characters are all setting up a grocery store after hours when a dysfunctional man keeps stalking his ex gf. The police are pretty inept at preventing him from trying to get back in, and what ensues is almost like a splatter film with the amount of gore and creative kills.

There's also a lot of offbeat humor here- as one such victim is sawed in half and dumped in a trash can with a half price tag on him. In one moment the killer also stops to put one of the stray boxes back on the shelf. Though the mystery plot is pretty obvious and a bit silly it does well at maintaining a level of creepy vibe- especially with a decent final chase that bounces along like a violent zonked nightmare with her seeing all of the previous kills. It doesn't always work with some of the leaps in logic, but the special effects are great for a b-grade gore fest. Also features a few cult stars like Ted and Sam Raimi with a very small Bruce Campbell cameo.