Deadly Intruder

This film got lost in the glut of slasher flicks that avalanched into the vid stores back in the merry old 80's.

Mental hospital escapee tries to survive outside. And you just KNOW he's going to revert to his old homicidal ways. And of course you've got your lone cop trying to find him before he does.

The dark atmosphere helped a lot here. One got the impression one saw more in the shadows. I kept thinking I missed a few clues.

The acting itself was so-so at its best, but no one was bad, so I guess that's a plus.

The cover art on the video box sucked me in back in '88 or so when I saw this. I never regretted it. There's so much drek from when video got huge. This one is worth remembering.

The usual nutcase escapes from the usual mental hospital, and the usual Mayberry cops do their usual bumbling as the usual idiots are massacred in the usual style while the usual blonde in the usual peril screams her head off.

The only remotely UNusual distiction of this love-crazed-maniac throwback is the false-protagonist "twist" near the end, and you'll probably see it coming by halftime. There aren't even any especially potent kills in this supplementary, cliché-ridden offering from the high tide of the 80s slasher epoch. The fact that it reaches to Danny Bonaduce for star power should be telling enough that you'll keep your expectations low.

A forgettable, but yieldingly watchable side-dish. 3.5/10.

THE DEADLY INTRUDER (1988)

The setup is fairly simple as a group of friends are stalked and murdered by a mysterious killer before and after a dinner party. It all leads up to a predictable but well done twist and finale. There's not much new here but it's done pretty well. I'm not gonna lie the movie is very low budget and suffers from its constraints but still offers some decent, retro genre fare.

6/10

I'll admit this movie isn't original or special, but it has stuck with me since I saw it a long time ago (back when I was watching every horror movie available, so I have seen a lot). Basically, a girl is being stalked by a serial killer that is loose in a small town. There is a drifter wandering around, engaging in violent behaviour, as well as a mysterious newcomer that may be too nice. All in all, it's passable fair if you like the old 80's horror films (although this is more of a thriller than a horror). I must say, I really enjoyed the ending, and the very last shot of the film before the credits roll is excellent.

The Deadly Intruder is just about everything you'd expect from an 80's slasher movie with none of the fun. The whole thing is a bit of a slog with no suspense or scares to speak of. One would think that, if you were going to make a tension free slasher, you'd sprinkle in some gore or some element of fun camp to liven things up. Unfortunately, The Deadly Intruder gives us nothing to work with.

The characters are paper thin, the actors try their best, the cinematography is impossibly dark, and the only pleasure to be found throughout the run time is when Danny Bonaduce shows up. Even then, we're just excited because someone else we know has been duped into being associated with this movie.

Maybe this is one of those movies that a cleaned up Blu-Ray transfer would help, but I highly doubt it. It's long OOP, but not really worth finding.