The Intruder

Chris Robinson (most remembered for his role in the 1972 snake-revenge flick "Stanley") wrote, produced, directed and starred in 1975's THE INTRUDER which then disappeared without any release. Garagehouse Pictures recently excavated the film in 2017, cleaned it up and now presents it on Bluray.

Quick plot: A bunch of people who don't know each other are invited to a house which can only be reached by a boat - driven by Mickey Rooney! A lot of gold is hidden there and bodies begin piling up. It's sort of a Giallo/Slasher/Old Dark House hybrid containing elements from each. The plot bears much in common with "10 Little Indians" by Agatha Christie, basically the same template for all those "Old Dark House" whodunit kind of movies. The style is definitely Giallo, with weird music accompanying some psychedelic scenes. And the murders are very "Friday the 13th", with bloody bodies suddenly appearing, swinging from overhead rafters at just the right moment, several years before that would become Jason's modus operandi.

Upon viewing, one gets the impression that this was an unfinished film which was cobbled together from the pieces that were completed. The narrative doesn't exactly flow smoothly and there are things which kind of just suddenly "have happened" - as if you walked out of the theater for a moment and came back, missing a scene or two. Most of Mickey Rooney's screen time consists of him riding around on a boat, with and without passengers, until his demise. Yvonne DeCarlo (from 'The Munsters') fares slightly better, but not much. And Ted Cassidy (from 'The Adams Family') retains a comparatively more meaty role.

Though not an unearthed masterpiece, there is more than enough weirdness, quirky characters and blood to keep any genre fan's interest for the duration. But that, of course, is not the main draw of this film. The mere fact that such an unseen relic has been exhumed over 4 decades after it's production is cause to celebrate this slice of seventies schlock and Garagehouse for rescuing it!

The Intruder (1975)

** (out of 4)

A group of people are taken to an island where they stay at a mansion. The owner of the mansion, a weird man, was killed in a plane crash but his body was never found. Pretty soon the people find themselves stuck on the island and being killed off one by one.

THE INTRUDER was quickly thrown together by star-writer-producer-director Chris Robinson and it managed to attract three stars in Mickey Rooney, Yvonne De Carlo and Ted Cassidy. For some reason the film was never released and it pretty much disappeared to the point where several Rooney biographies didn't even list the film or have anything on it. Finally, in 2012, a print turned up and was released to Blu-ray. However, as is the case with so many lost films that are discovered, the movie itself really isn't all that memorable.

This here is basically a PG-rated thriller that tries to take the Agatha Christie "Ten Little Indians" story and do it on a very low-budget. I must say that there are a couple good things here but overall the picture just doesn't have too much life to it. The one great thing it does have is the cinematography by Jack McGowan. His work is certainly the highlight of the picture as the film is great to look at and it perfectly captures the atmosphere of the setting while also not shying away from its low-budget. I also thought De Carlo was quite good in her role and she seems to have been trying to play a real snob and she does so perfectly as she steals the picture.

The majority of the cast are good in their roles, although none of the characters are given much development. Rooney appears in a few scenes and mostly we just see him driving a boat around. You can tell his scenes were shot in a day (if that) and for the most part it's fun to see him but he doesn't get much to do. If one is looking for graphic violence or bloodshed then look elsewhere as there's really not any here. While director Robinson manages to make a professional looking film for the budget, there's just not enough life or energy to have the film hold your attention.

Shelved in 1975, and subsequently forgotten about, the only surviving print of The Intruder lay undiscovered for several decades until Harry Guerro, the owner of Garagehouse Pictures, found it in a storage facility in the Mojave desert and saw fit to release it on DVD. He needn't have bothered. Yet another film inspired by Agatha Christie's classic novel Ten Little Indians, this 'proto-slasher' features a group of unlikable strangers travelling to an island to try and secure their share of a fortune in gold, only to be bumped off one-by-one by an unseen killer. The deaths are dull (the film is virtually goreless), but nowhere near as insufferable as the stuff inbetween: inept attempts at intrigue, boring dialogue, and what must be one of the worst fight scenes ever committed to celluloid, both incompetent combatants eventually falling to their death, impaled on the same pitchfork!

Fans of Yvonne De Carlo and Mickey Rooney will also feel shortchanged: despite prominent billing, neither has much to do in this mess of a movie - Rooney drives a boat and De Carlo only has a couple of lines.

Are you kidding me? Before, this film was justified with it's 8.1 rating! It is just not fair! I give this film a 10 out of 10 rating because I feel this is a underrated film and a landmark one in the horror genre. Why do people have to hate on everything? Not just that, but I saw this movie recently and it was probably one of the best slashers ever.