Intruders (2015)

Home-invasion films have come and gone over the years. We can start as early as the 1960’s with Wait until Dark, to present day, bringing us such pictures as The Strangers, Panic Room, and The Purge. The idea of being stuck in one of those situations always shakes me up. However, the question still remains: has this sub-genre been squeezed dry, or is there still a spark of creativity left to reignite the fear that even “home” itself, isn't the safe haven we make it out to be? Intruders (alternately titled Shut In) is the perfect answer to our calling of a solid “break-in” blockbuster: it feels fresh, the performances are solid (for the most part), and you're probably not going to guess what direction this film will take you in, which ends up making it all the more entertaining.

We are introduced to our protagonist Charlotte (Leticia Jiminez), an agoraphobic woman who hasn't left her house in a solid decade. She is now encountering the end stages of caring for her sickly brother, Conrad (Timothy T. McKinney), in place of their father, who'd passed away nearly ten years prior. As someone with a serious mental disorder, Charlotte understands that losing her brother is amongst the worst of things that could happen to her. It isn't long until Conrad, inevitably, passes away from his illness, gifting Charlotte with an empty vessel of a home, crippling anxiety, and more money than she knows what to do with.

Luckily for her, she won't be alone for long. With the company of a daily meals-on-wheels driver, Dan (Rory Culkin, Scream 4), Charlotte finds comfort and solace in his empathy and understanding, as they both begin drawing similarities between the current issues they are facing. Through a series of emotions, she obtains a bag of cash that she offers Dan's way, explaining how much easier it could make his life. After refusing the cash advance, Dan and Charlotte just chalk it up to a new friendship. Considering her situation, she almost appears to be feeling a sense of relief due to Dan's company and kind words.

The day of her brother's funeral is when the real action begins. We are thrown into a horrifying intrusion situation: three men pull up in a truck and begin peering through windows and jiggling the handles of Charlotte’s house. This sends her into a frenzied panic, as it would to anyone. It doesn’t take long before the men make their way into her home, seemingly looking for something specific. The fear coursing through Charlotte’s veins couldn’t be more real, as she narrowly avoids contact with any of the intruders.

Our three criminals consist of brothers JP (Jack Kesy, FX's The Strain) and Vance (Joshua Mikel), as well as their good friend Perry (a terrifically maniacal Martin Starr, HBO's Silicon Valley), who is there to level out the playing field with a little bit of sadism. It becomes known that they are solely in search of a large sum of cash, but how did these men know about Charlotte’s excessive funds? Already only a short fifteen minutes into the film, and we are given plenty of moving pieces to work with, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I have heard many complaints that the film’s story is all too predictable, but I have to heartily disagree on that. In fact, this is one area where I feel this picture succeeds the most.

Director Adam Schindler wants you to think you know what route the film is taking, until he pulls the rug from beneath your feet. This is an admittedly interesting take on the home-invasion genre, especially considering we are experiencing everything from the perspective of a woman who is simply too afraid to leave the place that may just become the death of her. Our actors do an overall solid job, and writers TJ Cimfel and David White know how to craft a horror-thriller that will make you hold your breath before you turn each and every corner with Charlotte. You may lay claim to the fact that you've seen films like this in the past, however, I can assure you that you haven't. Intruders succeeds in bringing something new and refreshing to the table, which is more than most “home invasion” films can say for themselves nowadays.