Deadly Intruder

This movie was made back in the early 80's, and while it has elements of Halloween, it does not measure up to the standard Halloween set in the slasher/horror genre. But I'm not going to compare this movie to Halloween, because it is an altogether different movie in its own right, with its own atmosphere and tone.

The first 15 minutes are all you really need to see of this movie, and really, it is because of the first 15 minutes I remembered this movie to begin with. A psycho escapes from the sanitarium in the middle of the night to begin what psychos do best - stalk. Early the next morning, he slips into a woman's kitchen while she is getting her breakfast ready at the sink, and proceeds to kill her by drowning her in the sink. This scene alone is among the most violent and realistic drowning scenes I've seen in any movie, and - let this be a fair warning - the woman's bathrobe becomes undone during the attack and her breasts are exposed. Honestly, this scene is really the only memorable scene in the entire movie. After that, the movie is rather slow and boring, with an attempt at character development and an interesting ending. As far as slasher movies go, this is a bit slow moving and doesn't really have much suspense. And for all you gore fans out there, don't bother with this movie, as there really isn't any notable gore.

I gave this movie 7 stars out of 10 only because the first minutes contain some of the most disturbing, cold-blooded, and violent attacks toward women I've seen in film. It was meant to grab your attention, and it certainly did.

My review was written in March 1985 after watching the movie on Thorn EMI video cassette.

Deadly dull sums up "Deadly Intruder", an underdeveloped horror picture made last year and too weak for theatrical use, going directly into the home video market.

Stale premise and predictable twist concerns a psycho, escaped from an institution, on the rampage in a small town while local cop (Stuart Whitman, in for a couple of scenes wearing a beard) and his men haplessly try to catch him. A drifter (played by screenwriter and co-producer Tony Crupi) kidnaps the heroine (Molly Cheek), and is mistaken for the real psycho.

Relying on the stalker formula, pic repeatedly sets up situations of gore and mayhem yet tastefully avoids showing the carnage on screen. However, homevideo fans will appreciate the inclusion of several nude scenes, including one of the heroine that is photographed (head always out of frame) as if a body double was being utilized.

John McCauley's direction is mediocre, offering little style and relying upon a self-written musical score heavily indebted.to the repetitive keyboard figures favored by Italian rock group Goblin and America's John Carpenter.

The Deadly Intruder is an 80's horror film which stars Danny Bonaduce in a very small role. The story is typical for slasher flicks, a man (whose face we don't see) escapes from a mental institution and over a period of time commits a few murders in a small town. The film centers around a lonely young woman who becomes romantically interested in a man who is new in town. They and two other friends have dinner on night while a drifter/homeless man lurks outside stalking the group. During the dinner, about two or three murders occur. They are sort of random murders and seem out of place to the rest of the film.

The homeless man eventually breaks into the woman's's house late at night and holds her hostage on her property. He seemingly just wants someone to talk too. Now he may be a creep, but is he the escaped mental patient? Maybe, maybe not. There are some good twists to the movie, but it's all out of place at times. The film doesn't know if it wants to be a crime thriller or a slasher. The conclusion where the killer's identity is revealed to us is done good though. The killer comes undone and starts losing it in a very creepy way. Molly Cheek, who is likely best known for her role in the American Pie films, does well in the lead role.

This is just one of many lost slasher films from the 80's. It was distributed by Thorn EMI Video and will probably never get a DVD release. The picture quality is very bad. During the first ten minutes, I had no clue what was going on. The nighttime scenes are dark and even the daytime scenes are dark. But this little unknown slasher isn't the worst I've seen. It's actually got potential and a good story. There is some nudity but very little gore. If you're a serious horror fan I say seek this one out. Otherwise, you probably won't get much out of this hard to find movie.

5/10

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