Intruders - Rapimenti alieni

This is one of the best treatments of this subject available, far more accurately reflecting its (non-fiction) source material than "Communion," for example, or "Fire in the Sky." The way in which Crenna's character (probably a composite of Budd Hopkins and the late Dr. John Mack) slowly comes to believe his terrified and bewildered "patients," in spite of a healthy skepticism, is quite persuasive. The human dramas associated with witness reports are the focus here (as they are in the excellent "The UFO Incident"), and the visual effects, though gasp-producing, take care not to distort those reports. All the performances are first-rate. One of the three writers, incidentally,Tracey Tormé--the son of the later singer-songwriter, Mel Tormé--is also one of the writers of "Fire in the Sky."

INTRUDERS is a pretty good exploration of the alien abduction phenomenon, based on a book by real-life abductee Budd Hopkins. As a three hour TV movie it holds the attention throughout, boasting an excellent turn from Richard Crenna as a psychiatrist who gets drawn into the unusual reports from one of his patients and ends up leading a crusade against government cover-ups.

The only real negative thing about INTRUDERS is that it was made in the 1990s, where all such TV movies inevitably look cheap and ramshackle to modern audiences. Indeed, there's an often cheap and cheesy look and feel to the production, which saps the realism. But there are also many reasons to tune in, as this is a drama that narrowly predates THE X-FILES and handles an outlandish subject matter in a surprisingly mature way.

The film is also rather frightening for its time, focusing extensively on the abduction scenes; there are lots of nightmarish moments involving the "Greys" here, and the spooky atmosphere is understandable when you find out that Dan Curtis (proponent of many a 1970s TV horror flick) is the guy who directed it. Crenna was always an underrated actor and I can't help but feel this might be one of his greatest late stage performances.

"Intruders" is in my opinion the most underrated masterpiece when it comes to the topic of UFOs, alien abduction etc.... I gave this movie a well deserved 10!

Of course, a lot of mistakes where made in the movie which you can clearly see, but no other movie has ever come this close to put down a realistic feel concerning alien abduction.

The special effects used in the movie are stunning for it's time and for it's budget.

I rediscovered this movie after 20 years, and as a kid, this movie truly got to me, and 20 years later it still does.

"ET" or "Close encounters" never had that effect on me.

This entertaining and informative adaptation of Budd Hopkins' book by the same name originally aired on CBS where Canada and The US watched in suspense. After seeing the first of two episodes, I just had to know what would happen in the next one. I have LOVED this movie ever since I saw the first fifteen minutes of it when I was twelve years old. Today it remains near the top of my favorite films/shows/whatever. Gray aliens, creepy abductions, UFOs, suspense, action; what's not to like.

My question and the point of this message is as follows

Why does the UK have this TV movie released on DVD, but Canada and the US, where the show aired, are still waiting for this title to be released?.

A petition may be needed.

Shawn

I remember seeing this movie on VHS rental and I immediately liked it. It started me on reading Bud Hopkins' books on alien abduction. As stated here time and again, the acting is very good and the story very involving. I remember especially enjoying reading the book after viewing the movie. This way I had a visual reminder every time when reading. On all accounts Intruders is a convincing and scary movie that should please all lovers of the genre.

@dunneboy from Sweden: I'm not sure which version DVD you got, but the movie's listed run time is 163 min. The R2 DVD of Intruders runs for 162 min.(And that's without factoring in PAL speedup:-)