Intruder (1989)

The overnight stock crew of a local supermarket find themselves being stalked and slashed by a mysterious maniac.

Director:

Scott Spiegel

Writers:

Lawrence Bender (story), Scott Spiegel (screenplay)

Stars:

Elizabeth Cox, Renée Estevez, Dan Hicks

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Elizabeth Cox	...	Jennifer Ross
Renée Estevez	...	Linda (as Renee Estevez)
Dan Hicks	...	Bill Roberts (as Danny Hicks)
David Byrnes	...	Craig Peterson
Sam Raimi	...	Randy
Eugene Robert Glazer	...	Danny (as Eugene Glazer)
Billy Marti	...	Dave
Burr Steers	...	Bub
Craig Stark	...	Tim
Ted Raimi	...	Produce Joe
Alvy Moore	...	Officer Dalton
Tom Lester	...	Officer Mathews
Emil Sitka	...	Mr. Abernathy
Bruce Campbell	...	Officer Howard
Lawrence Bender	...	Officer Adams

Storyline

The ex-boyfriend of a check-out girl at a supermarket returns at closing time to make trouble. They quarrel and the boyfriend is ejected from the store. After they lock the building up to take inventory, the employees start dying off, and the survivors must eventually find a way to escape with their lives!

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Plot Keywords:

supermarket | stabbed in the head | knife through head | decapitation | serial killer | 

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Taglines:

Unnerving. Unrelenting. Diabolical.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Full Movie on Hulu

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 January 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nerve Endings

Filming Locations:

Bell, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$130,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beyond Infinity,Phantom Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min 88 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "head in one hand, sandwich in the other" speech was previously used in Raising Arizona (1987).

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Goofs

When Joe's body is seen on the conveyor belt and then goes in reverse, the head falls off and rolls to the side. But in the long shot of him going back up, the head is still near the shoulders.

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Quotes

Bub: Brain hemorrhage!

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Alternate Versions

When the Colourbox video was eventually submitted to the BBFC in 1989 it was then cut by 1 min 53 secs. The cuts were later fully waived for the 2003 DVD release.

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Connections

References Strangers on a Train (1951)

User Reviews

Clean up on ... well, on every aisle.

To my knowledge, there were no slasher films set within a supermarket before this devilish debut for Scott Spiegel and later Tarantino collaborator Lawrence Bender came along. It's such a great setting for the subgenre, and the store used in Intruder is especially effective on account of its omnipresent dark corners and looming industrial machinery.

As far as the plot goes, you've seen it all before, and not even the "twist" is surprising. However, the film is so well-made that it doesn't matter. It makes up for its lack of originality with some good performances and a helluva lot of style, including unconventional camera-work (which Spiegel is clearly in love with) and brutal gore.

Intruder is especially good considering its late entry into the slasher pantheon, and actually manages to recapture a lot of the stylistic and structural panache of its early '80s predecessors. It graciously avoids the klieg-drenched, hackneyed, and tongue-in-cheek approach of its contemporaries and instead uses murky tints and plays it straight and without airs. This is easily one of the better slasher outings of the entire decade.

Also, the Final Girl wears some killer straight-outta-1989 pleated khakis.