Intruder is exactly what you'd expect to get from the minds behind Evil Dead 2.  ED2's writer, Scott Spiegel debuted as a feature director with this supermarket slasher classic. Spiegel grew up as a member of the Michigan film cabal that spawned Bruce Campbell and the Raimi brothers, and his sensibilities fall nicely in line with Sam Raimi's early splatstick work.  Intruder is a late '80s slasher, on the cusp of the genre falling out of favor, but it works nicely as a last gasp with ridiculous characters, dialogue, and insane gore that makes the grade even today.  Lords of the underground, Synapse Films have released Intruder on a pristine Blu-ray edition that would give you no idea that the film was shot for nickels.  Intruder is presented uncut and with a number of exclusive bonus features that make this release a must have for horror/cult film junkies!

It's 10 pm and the employees of Michigan's Walnut Lake Supermarket are in for a really bad night.  The place is shutting its doors for good, and the night crew has a long shift ahead of them... longer than they think!  The lovely check-out girl has a deranged ex-boyfriend, the store's phone lines are cut, and the employees start dying in the most stomach-churning ways imaginable (courtesy of Academy Award®-winning KNB EFX Group).   A deranged killer is on the loose in the grocery store!  Can anyone stop this murderous intruder?

The ultimate betrayal of any film's low budget origin is the setting, and in the case of Intruder, the fact that it all takes place on the grounds of a neighborhood supermarket gives away the film's origin, but not its ambition.  Intruder is a very ambitiously shot slasher.  Scott Spiegel crammed his camera into every open crevice and orifice in order to get the look he wanted.  He also used a lot of unknown actors, including producer Lawrence Bender's girlfriend, Elizabeth Cox, in the lead to make his film work.  The combination of the inexperienced cast, and Spiegel's whiz-bang ingenuity made for something more special than you would expect for a film like this.

The crew of the Walnut Lake Market has just been informed that their store is closing its doors for good and they're all going to be out of jobs soon, but they still have a week left, so they have to clean the place up for the night.  To make matters worse, Jennifer's (Elizabeth Cox) crazy ex-boyfriend has shown up and wants her back, though she wants nothing to do with him.  As they go through the motions of closing up shop, they start dropping one by one in pretty spectacular ways.  Will they find out who the killer is before it's too late?

There are two real heroes of Intruder, the first is director Scott Spiegel.  Spiegel's camera is all over the place, and the interviews on the disc with his DP confirm that all of the crazy angles were Spiegel's ideas.  We get POV shots from the craziest places, behind the dial of a rotary phone, through a booze bottle, hell, there's even a doorknob POV shot in there.  This constant barrage of disarming angles helps to keep the audience a little bit off kilter, and keeps them off the real trail, while at the same time fits perfectly in with the type of film making the Michigan boys had been doing since their high school days.  Spiegel's screenplay is also packed with witticisms and cleverly stupid dialogue that truly underpins the film's somewhat satiric roots.  Intruder isn't meant to be 100% scary, he throws in a lot of genuine laughs in the process.

The second most impressive part of Intruder is the team of artists who would soon become KNB, Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, and Howard Berger.  The gore effects in this film's director's cut are INSANE!  They hold up under HD scrutiny even now, 22 years later, which is impressive for a film with a budget like this. There are kills that you've never seen before in this film, and they are bloody as hell.  When the film was first released to VHS, it was cut to get an R rating, and all of the glorious red stuff was cut out, rendering the film not only disjointed, but even worse, boring! This cut (which isn't completely new, having been released on DVD) restores all of the amazing effects work from a team that had just come off the landmark Evil Dead 2 and were still young and full of vim and vigor for whom make-up was still a budding passion.  If you see Intruder for anything, see it for the gore!

Scott Spiegel has worked on a few other film's as director or as producer, but none were as completely his as Intruder, and the film is all the better for the passion put into it. I had never see Intruder before reviewing this Blu-ray, but it's on my list to re-watch as soon as possible!

The Disc:

As I mentioned above, the film was shot on a shoestring budget in a really short period of time, however, you wouldn't be able to tell that from Synapse's Blu-ray edition.  The film looks as good as or better than most '80s genre films on Blu-ray today.  There is ample fine detail, there is a fine layer of grain where appropriate, and the colors are beautifully recreated.  The films also gets a DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio track that isn't particularly active stereo, but recreates the sounds, and sound effects, beautifully.

Intruder comes to Blu-ray with a whole slate of exclusive new HD featurettes from Synapse and Red Shirt Productions.  First off is a decent length retrospective with all of the major cast and crew, apart from Sam Raimi.  This takes a look at the entire production process and is very entertaining, as Spiegel and team are just as much fun as you'd expect someone with deep ties to Sam Raimi's career and sense of humor to be.  There is a full commentary track with Spiegel and producer Lawrence Bender that is filled with anecdotes and never stays quiet for too long.  Both are very self-deprecating, but also appreciate what they've done and give credit where it is due.  After that, there are a few cut sequences from the workprint that extend certain murders, as well as outtakes from the original Super 8 short Night Crew that inspired Intruder, featuring a couple of familiar faces. Rounding out the bonus stuff is some cast audition footage along with trailers and production stills, all very fun stuff.

Intruder has been given a king's welcome to high definition by Synapse Films, and no longer needs to reside in the dustbin of history with this pristine new print just waiting to be discovered by the weird kids in high schools across the country. Highly recommended!