''Intermedio'' is a 2005 American
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by
Andrew Lauer
Andrew Michael Lauer (born June 19, 1965) (also known as ''Andy Lauer'') is an American feature and documentary filmmaker, actor, and social activist.
Lauer is the Founder President & CEO of ReelAid, a non-profit organization made up of filmmake ...
.
Plot
In a small
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
town, Malik (
Edward Furlong
Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is an American actor. He won Saturn and MTV Movie Awards for his breakthrough performance at age 13 as John Connor in James Cameron's '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''; which was followed by a mini-seque ...
) along with his former girlfriend Gen (
Cerina Vincent
Cerina Vincent (born February 7, 1979) is an American actress. She had her breakthrough role starring as Maya in the television series ''Power Rangers Lost Galaxy,'' followed by a part in the comedy film ''Not Another Teen Movie'', before going ...
) her friend Barbie (
Amber Benson
Amber Nicole Benson (born January 8, 1977) is an American actress, singer, writer, director, and producer. She is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the TV series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1999–2002), and has also directed, produced ...
), and another friend named Wes (
Callard Harris Callard is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Agnes Callard (born 1976), American philosopher
* Andrea Callard (born 1950), media artist long connected with the artists group Colab in New York City
* Beverley Callard (born 1957), ...
) take a weekend getaway to an old
ghost town
Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to:
* Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned
Film and television
* Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser
* Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...
where Malik and Gen played when they were younger.
They arrive at a long-abandoned prospecting settlement which is said to contain miles of tunnels, some of which lead to the
Mexican border
Mexico shares international borders with three nations:
*To the north the United States–Mexico border, which extends for a length of through the states of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
*To the southe ...
less than a mile away. The four friends climb down into the tunnels, and are observed by a mysterious old man (
Steve Railsback
Stephen Railsback is an American theatre, film, and television actor. He is best known for his performances in the films ''The Stunt Man'' and Lifeforce (film), ''Lifeforce'', and his portrayal of Charles Manson in the 1976 television mini-series ...
) from a short distance away. He tugs on a mysterious
amulet
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
hanging from a chain around his neck and pours what appears to be blood on the ground.
In the tunnels, the teenagers stumble into two Mexican drug dealers, Jorge (Alejandro Samaniego) and Al, along with their teenaged sidekick Zee (
Paul Cram
Paul Matthew Cram (born October 31, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his role as "Zee", in the film ''Intermedio''.
Filmography
* '' Sugar & Spice'' (2001) - as Fickle Video Renter (uncredited)
*''Intermedio'' (2005) - as Zee
*''C ...
), hauling packets of
contraband
Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") refers to any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It is used for goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes o ...
across the border. The drug dealers force the four teenagers to tag along with them. Suddenly, mysterious
ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
-like creatures appear and begin to attack them, forcing the teenagers and drug runners to join forces and run to the nearest hatch to try to escape. The mysterious old man is seen stroking his necklace, summoning the mysterious creatures. One of them throws a hook and chain at Al, impaling him to the wall.
Barbie is then sliced in half at the waist when she attempts to stand on Jorge's shoulders to open another hatch. Most of Jorge's fingers are severed as well. Zee seems to have disappeared, and the remaining survivors climb into a boarded up shack. One of the creatures stabs Wes through the neck. Jorge is also killed by the creatures.
Malik and Gen soon discover a room filled with dozens of bodies that have been killed over the years. Zee appears again and leads them to a path. Eventually the two safely escape the tunnels only to discover that they have lost the keys to their car, and they ask the owner of a nearby house for a ride. The owner turns out to be the mysterious old man, although neither of the survivors know he is the one behind the attacks.
As the old man drives the two away in his truck, he offers them some
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
. Gen drinks it and soon passes out. The old man stabs Malik in the legs and then knocks him out with
chloroform
Chloroform, or trichloromethane, is an organic compound with chemical formula, formula Carbon, CHydrogen, HChlorine, Cl3 and a common organic solvent. It is a colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to ...
.
Malik and Gen wake up back in the room filled with dead bodies, and after they each painfully remove the barbed wire binding their wrists, Gen discovers a small, narrow tunnel. They crawl under it and end up in the house of the old man. In the house they find a bedroom covered with newspaper clippings about a teenager named Zee who was murdered years earlier in the tunnels; the old man was a suspect in the killing. Zee reappears and shows them a passage underneath a bed. The old man soon finds the open passage and follows them into it.
Once again, the old man summons the ghostly creatures to attack the two survivors as they flee. Soon, Malik and Gen cross paths with the old man, who attacks them. The old man is about to murder Gen by slowly stabbing her in the neck when the previously silent Zee tells him to stop. Gen attacks the old man. Gen gets hold of the necklace and destroys it, and the creatures show up and kill the old man.
Later, Gen cuts herself with a knife, dripping her blood onto a rock as she says her goodbyes to Wes. She meets up with Malik and they safely make it to the surface. At daybreak, they flag down another pickup truck and ask the driver for a ride.
In the final scene, Malik and Gen are safely in a motel room. Malik then muses over the old man's ability to control spirits, wondering whether they could then control them too, which Gen simply shrugs off. The movie ends showing Wes and Barbie's dead bodies staring at Malik and Gen through their motel room window.
Cast
Release
The film was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
by
The Asylum Home Entertainment on Mar 29, 2005. It was re-released by Timeless Media on Jun 19, 2007.
Reception
''HorrorNews.net'' gave the film a negative review, criticizing the film's special effects, characters, and lack of continuity. The reviewer concluded, "''Intermedio'' won’t sit on your top ten shelf but it has its moments. It screams of rental material that really only provides one point of interest. Cerina Vincent."
Elaine Lamkin from ''Severed Cinema'' called the film "awful", and criticized the film's acting, obvious low-budget, and design of the title monsters. Lamkin concluded by writing, "I hate trashing low-budget horror movies as there are so many GOOD ones out there and nearly all of them are made by people who really CARE about them.... I really had high hopes for ''Intermedio'' but don't bother. There are no scares, the gory scenes aren't gross and there is just no logic to any of it. BIG disappointment!!"
References
External links
*
*
* {{Rotten tomatoes, intermedio, Intermedio
American monster movies
2005 horror films
2005 independent films
American ghost films
2005 films
Films set in Mexico
The Asylum films
Films directed by Andrew Lauer
2000s monster movies
2005 directorial debut films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films