INTRUDER

(A.k.a. NIGHT CREW: THE FINAL CHECKOUT)

It’s late one evening in a supermarket, and the overnight staff are busy at their jobs: restocking the shelves, sorting out the storerooms, preparing the next morning’s meats and so on.

But there is trouble. Pretty cashier Jennifer (Elizabeth Cox) has recently dumped her greaser boyfriend Craig (David Byrnes), and he’s full of fury as a result. He turns up at the store, anxious to get close to Jennifer one more time and not afraid to tell other clerks to "fuck off" or indulge in the odd punch-up with chivalrous staff members in the interim.

He’s finally thrown out of the store after brawling with its co-owner Bill (Danny Hicks) and knocking resident butcher Randy (Sam Raimi) to the floor. However, it soon transpires that they haven’t seen the last of Craig – his presence is felt over the telephone, peering through the store’s windows etc.

In the meantime, the night just gets worse for those working inside: Bill’s business partner Danny informs them that the store has been sold, and consequently everyone will be out of a job by the morning. Affable Bill insists that, as the 49% shareholder in the business, he had no choice but to go along with Danny’s plan to sell it on.

Pissed off, the staff carries on regardless, preparing the store for its closure. But the creepy score and ominous handheld POV shots of someone stalking the supermarket’s labyrinthine aisles are enough to clue us in that the remainder of this night is no going to unravel without further incident.

Indeed, after a few false alerts, the night crew members do start getting bumped off one by one. But, who is doing the killing?

INTRUDER’s budget reportedly came in at around $130,000.00. Even by late 80s standards, that’s pretty cheap. But it looks great, thanks to the novel location (the entire film is set in [or just outside] the store), director Scott Spiegel’s inventive use of the camera – shooting perspectives from the points of view of telephones, basins, even waste paper baskets – and the excellent, gory special effects work of KNB EFX Group.

Performances are middling throughout, but they don’t matter too much. The plot is a knowingly one-dimensional, platform-style one that simply serves to provide a scenario in which young people are terrorised and then killed. We have humour and tension thrown in in-between, so it’s all good. Despite no remarkable performances (although I feel Hicks’ energetic turn deserves a nod), the cast is interesting anyway because it includes the likes of THE EVIL DEAD director Raimi, his brother Ted and, in short cameos, Bruce Campbell and producer Lawrence Bender.

INTRUDER has no doubt benefited over the years from the involvement of the above names. But its real reason for such enduring appeal in the hearts of fans must surely be attributed to its mix of no-frills storytelling, likeable beat, stylish direction and – of course – creative, bloody kill scenes.

One head is sawn in half. Another has a meathook rammed through it. Yet another is crushed beneath a giant press. Even a knifing to the belly is ludicrously gory in this enjoyably comic strip array of splatter set-pieces.

Ultimately INTRUDER is a late entry into the inglorious slasher cycle. As such, it suffers from the common pitfalls of that sub-genre (slow start, erratic pace, red herrings, obvious killer, cardboard victims). But it has an energy and wit about it, plus it’s actually very well made, that help it rise about the milieu and stand the test of time as one of the most entertaining (and undemanding) films of its type.

INTRUDER hasn’t fared too well in DVD releases of old. But Synapse have righted that wrong with this wonderful double-disc blu-ray and DVD combo pack.

The blu-ray disc is a 50gb dual layer affair, offering the film encoded to 1080p resolution in an MPEG4-AVC file.

The film looks the best it ever has, or likely will, in this uncut (director’s cut) 1.78:1 transfer, preserving the theatrical aspect ratio and enhancing it for 16x9 television sets. Colours are nice and natural while blacks satisfy not only in their deepness but also their stability. A distinct lack of noise or compression worries is pleasing to report, as is the boost in detail and brightness over previous releases. The picture is a tad faint in comparison to bigger budgeted films of its era, but this a great rendition of the film from the materials available.

English 2.0 mono audio comes in a rousing and evenly balanced DTS-HD Master mix that is also hard to knock.

An animated main menu page includes access to pop-up menus, incorporating a scene-selection menu allowing access to INTRUDER via 12 chapters.

Extras begin with a brilliant, fact-filled and engaging commentary track from Spiegel and Bender.

Some of what’s discussed in this erudite and consistent track is inevitably repeated in the impressive new 36-minute featurette "Slashed Prices: The Making Of Intruder". Here, key players such as Campbell, Spiegel, Bender, Hicks, Cox and even Charles Band (no Raimi) turn up to discuss how this little project – based on a Super 8 short that Spiegel had shot in 1979 – came to be. Cox’s explanation of her different screams throughout the film is particularly amusing. In fact, it’s all fascinating stuff, and makes for one of the best bonus features I’ve seen in some time.

10 minutes of ‘extended’ murder sequences follow. These include outtakes, alternate takes and several seconds of extra gore that was included in the film’s original work print. The footage here is windowboxed, timecoded and priceless.

Next up outtakes from the original short film, "Night Crew". As Spiegel explained in the earlier commentary track and featurette, he had one copy of this film and foolishly loaned it out. It never came back, making it effectively "lost".

The original film was 20 minutes long, Spiegel’s text intro tells us, but all he has left are 7 minutes of outtakes which he’s edited together with score (even dialogue) to present an idea of how the film looked and felt. It’s windowboxed and insanely dark during exterior scenes, but what a joy that’s it here regardless. Plot and gore exist, including a Bigfoot-type killer. If you like INTRUDER, you need to see this footage.

"The Slashing of Intruder" is a 3 minute interview with filmmaker Vincent Pereira (A BETTER PLACE), who discusses the horror he felt when he hired the American VHS of INTRUDER only to discover it had been heavily cut ... and the elation he experienced when his subsequent disgruntled letter to Fangoria led to a surprising package in the post.

11 minutes of cast audition footage is recorded on videotape and has been newly recovered from Spiegel’s archives. A text disclaimer warns that "video quality is a little rough at times", but I found this windowboxed footage to be just fine.

A 4-minute stills gallery offers a plethora of on-set photos.

I don’t think I’d ever seen the film’s original American trailer before (79 seconds), so it was a pleasure to experience it here. It’s brilliant. We also get a virtually identical trailer for the film under the title NIGHT CREW: THE FINAL CHECKOUT, sourced from video.

The Making Of, Pereira interview, photo gallery and original trailer are all presented in 16x9 HD. Everything else is in standard definition.

The blu-ray disc is region free, as is disc 2 – which reproduces the film and all extras on an NTSC DVD.

A beautiful cover (check out Al Sex Gore’s quote on the back too!) and equally impressive transfer finally do justice to Scott Spiegel’s INTRUDER, a minor gem of 1980s splatter. The extras are better than could’ve previously been hoped for, making the latest release from Synapse yet another jewel in their ever-growing, evermore impressive crown.

Highly recommended.

Review by Stuart Willis