''Intruders'' is a 2011

supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of horror film and supernatural film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...

directed by

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (born 5 December 1967) is a Spanish film director, script writer, and producer. He directed '' Intacto'' and ''28 Weeks Later'', the sequel to Danny Boyle's ''28 Days Later''. His film ''Esposados'' was nominated for the Aca ...

and written by the Spanish duo Nicolás Casariego and Jaime Marques. The film stars

Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series '' Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...

Carice van Houten Carice Anouk van Houten () is a Dutch actress and singer (born 5 September 1976 in Leiderdorp). Her first leading role in the television film ''Suzy Q'' (1999) won her the Golden Calf for Best Acting in a Television Drama; two years later, s ...

Daniel Brühl Daniel César Martín Brühl González Domingo (; born 16 June 1978) is a Spanish-German actor and filmmaker. He received his first German Film Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' Das Weisse Rauschen (The White Sound)'' (2001), ''Nichts ...

Pilar López de Ayala Pilar López de Ayala Arroyo (born 18 September 1978) is a Spanish actress. She won a Goya Award for Best Actress for her performance playing Joanna of Castile in 2001 film '' Mad Love''. Family Born in Madrid, López de Ayala has an older br ...

Ella Purnell Ella Summer Purnell (born 17 September 1996) is an English actress best known for her roles as Jackie in the Showtime drama series ''Yellowjackets,'' Jinx in the Netflix animated television series ''Arcane'', and Gwyn in the Paramount+/Nickelod ...

, Izan Corchero,

Kerry Fox Kerry Lauren Fox (born 30 July 1966) is a New Zealand actress. She came to prominence playing author Janet Frame in the movie ''An Angel at My Table'' directed by Jane Campion, which gained her a Best Actress Award from the New Zealand Film and ...

and

Héctor Alterio Héctor Benjamín Alterio Onorato (born 21 September 1929) is an Argentine theatre, film and television actor, well known both in Argentina and Spain. Biography Alterio's theatre debut came in 1948 as the lead in ''Cómo suicidarse en prima ...

. The film follows a man and a woman trying to save their kids' life from an imaginary monster, known as Hollow Face, that is trying to take their face and soul. ''Intruders'' was released in Spain on 7 October 2011 by

Universal Pictures International Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

and in the United Kingdom on 27 January 2012 by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

. The film had grossed $5 million worldwide and received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, who praised its performances, atmosphere and the first act, but criticized its bland plot, use of jump scares and the film's villain.

Plot

Though no one can see him, Hollow Face lurks in the corners, desperately desiring love but only knowing how to spread fear and hate. In England, Hollow Face creeps into the life of John Farrow, after Farrow's 12-year-old daughter Mia is assaulted in their home. In Spain, Hollow Face creeps into the life of Luisa and her adolescent son Juan, after Juan is assaulted in their home. The line between the real and the imaginary blurs as fissures start to open within the family unit. It seems that no security measure can keep out Hollow Face.

Cast

as John Farrow *

as Susanna *

as Mia Farrow *

as Luisa * Izan Corchero as Juan *

as Father Antonio *

Mark Wingett Mark Christopher Wingett (born 1 January 1961) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as PC/DC Jim Carver in ''The Bill'' and '' EastEnders'' as Mike Swann, '' Hollyoaks'' as Frank Symons and '' Heartbeat'' as Terry Molloy. His fi ...

as Grandfather *

Lolita Chakrabarti Lolita Chakrabarti (born 1 June 1969) is a British actress and writer. Early life Chakrabarti was born in Kingston upon Hull, England, to Bengali Hindu parents from India on 1 June 1969. She grew up in Birmingham, where her father worked as ...

as Dr. Roy *

as Dr. Rachel *

Raymond Waring Raymond Waring (born 21 July 1977) is an English actor. He was born in Liverpool and grew up in Runcorn, Cheshire, where he attended St. Chad's Secondary School. In 1994, he was accepted into the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and, i ...

and Adam Leese as Policemen

Production

The film stars

and

. The shooting began in late June 2010, in London, Madrid and

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau (''Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of th ...

, under the directorial guidance of Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. The screenplay was written by the Spanish duo Nicolás Casariego and Jaime Marques, based on a story by

. Belén Atienza and Enrique López Lavigne works as producer for Antena 3 Films, Apaches Entertainment and

Release

''Intruders'' was released in Spain on 7 October 2011 by

and in the United Kingdom on 27 January 2012 by

. In the United States, the film received a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on 30 March 2012 by

Millennium Entertainment Alchemy (formerly Millennium Entertainment) was an American independent global film distributor based in Los Angeles, California. The company acquired and distributed feature films, television series and specialty programming. History Millennium ...

Reception

Critical reception for ''Intruders'' the film has been mostly negative. Film review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported an approval rating of 32%, based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 4.86/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Intruders'' has a fantastic first act but then settles into a bland plot and scare tactics that aren't all too scary". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Lou Lumenick Louis J. Lumenick (born September 11, 1949) is an American film critic. He was the chief film critic and film editor for the ''New York Post'' where he reviewed films from 1999 until his retirement in 2016. He is currently researching the histor ...

from the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' liked the film's opening and atmosphere but also criticised the film as being "underwhelming". Sean Burns from ''

Philadelphia Weekly ''Philadelphia Weekly'' (''PW'') is a website based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a newspaper in 1971 as ''The Welcomat'', a sister publication to the ''South Philadelphia Press''. In 1995, the paper became ''Philadelphia Weekl ...

'' gave the film a negative review, criticising the film's climax, special effects, "disparate" storyline, and slow pacing. Burns also criticised the film's monster as being "not-particularly-frightening".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Intruders 2011 films 2011 horror films 2011 horror thriller films 2010s supernatural horror films 2010s supernatural thriller films American horror thriller films American supernatural horror films American supernatural thriller films British horror thriller films British supernatural horror films British supernatural thriller films English-language Spanish films Films about families Films directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo Films scored by Roque Baños Films set in London Films set in Madrid Films shot in London Films shot in Madrid 2010s Spanish-language films Spanish supernatural horror films Spanish thriller films Atresmedia Cine films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films 2010s Spanish films