High concept horror is one of the easiest offshoots of the genre to market to the masses, with a killer premise and the lure of brand new spins on the standard tropes and trappings often leading to overwhelming demand to see the end product hooked directly into the veins of gorehounds everywhere. On the other side of the coin, you regularly end up with movies like Intruders.
Respective Rotten Tomatoes scores of just 31 and 22 percent from critics and audiences are far from a unanimous seal of approval, but the recurring consensus was one of bitter disappointment after the supernatural nightmare started off with a bang. Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo delivers a barnstorming first act that creates genuine nerve-shredding excitement for what comes next, only for Intruders to go flying off the rails the longer the story drags out.
An impressive ensemble that boasts Clive Owen, Ella Purnell, Daniel Brühl, and Carice van Houten among others lend their talents to the tale of the hooded phantom known as Hollow Face. Two children – one of whom lives in England while the other resides n Spain – are both traumatized by the specter who emerges from the horror stories they’d written.
To go along with its tepid critical reception, Intruders would also tank at the box office after recouping less than half of its $12 million budget from theaters, swiftly becoming a forgotten footnote in horror history. Until this week, anyway, after FlixPatrol named the decade-old dud as one of Hulu’s Top 10 most-watched films, a return to prominence that’s only going to leave viewers disappointed all over again once they realize it never gets any better than it does in the opening stretch.