I feel pretty conflicted about Juan Carlos Fresnadilloâs Intruders. On the one hand I recognize that the director is trying to play with the horror genre a bit and take a more psychological and intellectual approach to what starts off as a fairly conventional ghost story. The thing is that Iâm not entirely convinced that the experiment works, but I am entirely convinced that itâs not scary. I admire the attempt to create something different, but no matter how hard I tried and could never fully enjoy the movie. I guess you could call it a failed experiment and thatâs a shame because itâs only the third film in Frenadilloâs 10 year career (after Intacto and 28 Weeks Later) and I desperately hoped that Intruders would build on the promise of his previous movies. Instead, I got a noble failure and will probably now have to wait another four years or so until he releases another movie and hopefully sets things right. Sighâ¦whatcha gonna do? Hit the jump for all the disappointing details.The film tells two parallel horror tales that eventually dovetail together in a âohhh, I get it nowâ moment. The first story takes place years ago in Spain where a young boy is haunted by a mysterious hooded ghost wherever he goes and his desperate mother turns to the church for help. The second story is set in contemporary England where Clive Owenâs daughter is visited by the same ghost and his response is to send her to a psychiatrist. Pretty simple stuff combing quiet character moments, ooga booga ghost scares, and a nice subtle comparison between religion and scienceâs response to hauntings. It all builds to a twist ending that transforms the movie from a ghost story into a psychological horror movie along the lines of Jacobâs Ladder. Unfortunately Fresnadiloâs version doesnât work nearly as well.Itâs easy to complain about horror movies for being too simplistic and beholden to worn out genre conventions. The only thing is the reason thatâs true is that the conventions work. Meddle around with the established form too much and it starts to fall apart. In Intruders, Frenadillo is ultimately a victim of his own ambitions. He tries so hard to turn the spookhouse material into something intellectually resonant that he sucks most of the fun out the genre beats in the process. The scares scenes are fairly well handled, but saddled with so much self-important baggage that itâs hard to even appreciate them. The directorâs best sequences are his most simplistic, when he goes for the gut rather than the head. I know Iâm being vague, but thatâs only to avoid a lynch mob of angry readers screaming, âspoiler!â Itâs pretty easy to deconstruct the major problems with the film with a discussion of the ending, but that seems inappropriate given the fact that the film wonât even be released for weeks. For now, just trust me on this: Intruders stinks.This isnât the first time that Frenadillo has tried to push genre tropes beyond their established conventions. Thatâs kind of what he does and the trick just doesnât work this time. The problem is that when all the facts are in, itâs hard to even say if this is a horror movie at all. Perhaps a second viewing would be necessary to fully understand the directorâs intentions, but I donât think itâs even worth investing that time. The movie isnât a disaster, itâs a noble failure. Iâm sure there will be plenty of people out there thrilled by Frenadilloâs experiment, but Iâd imagine most people will walk out of the theater feeling disappointed and cheated.On the plus side, Itâs definitely a well-crafted movie. Intruders is stylishly and at times even beautifully put together, but in the end all that really amounts to is the cinematic equivalent of a beautifully wrapped present with nothing inside. The failure isnât worth dwelling on though. This is a film best forgotten and Iâd imagine itâll slip into obscurity before the year is through. Better luck next time Frenadillo. At least you tried to make something different. Not many genre directors even bother to do that.My Grade: DFor all of our coverage of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, click here. Also, here are links to all of my TIFF 2011 reviews so far:
TIFF 2011: INTRUDERS Review
INTRUDERS Review. Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, the horror film stars Clive Owen as a father whose daughter is visited by a ghost.