Intruder (2016) | Film Review

Voyeurism has enraptured moviegoers since the dawn of cinema. Many will vocalize their disdain at the concept of watching someone from afar, yet we all do it. Whether it be in entertainment (box office grosses, ratings, casting tidbits) or the actors themselves (who are they dating, how much are they making, etc.), most of us cinephiles are modest voyeurs at heart. What has rarely been done on film is to capture the perspective of both the victim AND their stalker in this scenario. “Intruder” takes a valiant stab at changing that.

As most thrillers of this ilk, the setup is simple: Elizabeth (Louise Linton), a beautiful cellist, spends an ample amount of time at home, curled up on her couch, living her simple and mundane life the way most of us do. As a violent storm rages outside and Elizabeth drifts from room to room in her humble abode, we learn someone is watching her every move. From inside the apartment. Think of the opening of “When A Stranger Calls”, but extended out 90 minutes. Terrifying concept, right?

Unlike most home invasion films though, our time is dutifully split between Elizabeth and her presumed perpetrator. As Elizabeth goes about eating her dinner, sleeping, showering – our hunter is omnipresent. Always cautiously waiting, and watching.

Thanks to an establishing prelude, we know definitively there is malicious intent at-play here. What we don’t know is when our killer will strike, will he make a mistake, or even whom it is. For the first half of the film, director Travis Zariwny (credited onscreen as Travis Z) strikes a delicate balance between tension and anticipation as Elizabeth evades numerous situations that would alert her to the intruder.

The problem with this setup is, at some point, we grow tired of these missed alarms and close-calls. Especially when each one is coupled with a looming bellow of slasher-influenced musical cues timed to shake us into panic mode. Linton is a graceful actress with presence and quickly establishes her role as a character we’re all-in to root for, yet when these murderous whiffs continue for over an hour, our suspenseful exhaustion quickly gives way to frustration. Stretching this premise out for an entire movie pushes you painfully close to secretly pulling for our shadowy foe to go ahead and win already.

Most of the film takes place in Elizabeth’s apartment. A vast space you will come to know almost as much as her assailant. Though the story does drag a bit in the second half as she passes yet another clue or flashing indicator that she is not alone, Zariwny pushes the movie forward for a balls-out ending that most films in this genre wouldn’t dare. This is the kind of gravitas you want to see from an up-and-coming filmmaker. I only hope his next feature affords Zariwny the ability to commit to these rule-breaking possibilities for an entire feature, one that his ending for “Intruder” only brushes the cusp of.