The Intruder

Scott and Annie have spent most of their marriage living the big life in the city. The best part is Scott just sealed a major deal at his nutritious water company. Annie has always dreamed, though, of settling down soon, moving out to the country and starting a family with Scott. “Hey,” Annie says, “that house out in Napa is still available.”

So Scott and Annie (Michael Ealy and Meagan Good) take a trip out to 6147 Arber Road. As they drive, they realize how secluded it is from the city. Nice! The property is in great shape. And then they meet the owner, Charlie (Dennis Quaid) in the most unorthodox manner… shooting a deer right in front of them. Charlie shows them around the property, stating that it’s time for him to move to Florida to live with his daughter, who’s begging him to move there (due to his advancing age).

Annie loves the house, and they seal the deal with Charlie. As Scott and Annie begin settling into their home, things seem a bit, well off. Well for one thing, one day, as Scott was at work, Annie notices Charlie mowing the house’s lawn. When confronted, Charlie states he just thought it needed doing and wanted to help. Ok, a nice gesture. And then the visits from Charlie become more and more frequent… and always with JUST Annie.

Scott becomes suspicious of this “Charlie.” Charlie has definitely, in Scott’s mind, overstayed his welcome. Charlie has become… an intrusion.

Words cannot express how deeply disappointed I am with this film. It had so much potential. There are some really strong performances, particularly from Dennis Quaid (who I knew would give it everything he had), and an interesting story that really could have gone somewhere.

Where “The Intruder” falters is in its to psychologically thrill or terrify as the film was branded to do. The jump scares are predictable, and not once did I actually “jump.” Scott and Annie are a couple, to be quite honest, that I didn’t care about due to the lack of character development. The film starts off literally saying, “Hey here’s Scott and Annie living it large in the city, now they want to move to the suburbs.” I kept asking myself, “Why should I honestly care about these two when I don’t know anything about them?”

Content of Concern

To make matters worse, the film is bombarded with large amounts of sex (some acts just downright disturbing), nudity and horrid displays of violence, all of which add absolutely NOTHING to the film. This is what drove the nails in the coffin for this film.

Violence: Very Heavy. A character is continuously, and rather graphically, beaten within an inch of his life. A character is stabbed in the back. A character is axed in the chest. We witness a human corpse in a freezer. A character is bashed in the head. A car drives recklessly through a city. Charlie shoots a deer close range on screen (we see a small bloody wound). Later, we see Charlie hauling this dead deer (blood dripping), hang it up in a shed, and cut it open. There is a suicide by gunshot (with a shotgun); the shot is offscreen (heard only). A character is hit by a car. A television program shows a lion killing a zebra. There is a huge fight between a male and female character, and the female is thrown to the ground. This same female character is nearly strangled on a couple occasions. A character is thrown off a banister. Someone is knocked over the head with a glass. Lastly, a character is shot and killed.

Vulgarity: Heavy— F*ck (1 + many bleeped uses in lyrics of end credits music), p*ssy, sh*t (12), b*ll-sh*t (1), a*s (1), “shut your magic lips,” “p*ss,” “Kind of hot for an older guy,” Annie and Scott are constantly making fun of Charlie behind his back to their friends and to each other. Charlie is called a “Bambi killer” (2).

Profanity: Heavy— G*d (5), G*d-d*mn (1), d*mn (4), d*mn-it (1), “Go to Hell,” H*ll (6), and Jeez (1—cut off).

Sex/Nudity: Very Heavy— The couple has sexual intercourse a few times. The woman is shown in her bra and panties, and the man is shirtless. There is also a sex scene where another character watches. There is passionate kissing. A man licks an unconscious woman. A woman wears cleavage-bearing outfits and has a bare midriff. We see girls wearing bikinis. The audience is given a close up shot of Annie’s buttocks. Another woman kisses Scott. Charlie is seen shirtless a couple times.

One really uncomfortable moment is when Annie is seen showering (the shower door obscures most of the nudity, but there’s enough you can pick out). The most disturbing moment, however, is when a male character begins groping Annie and almost rapes her before he is interrupted. An adulterous past comes up a few times in the film.

Other: A statue is seen urinating (only a partial shot is shown). There are a couple scenes involving alcohol.

Morals

Scott and Annie left their city life hoping that settling down would be a re-start and that things would be different for both of them. While they do love each other, moving didn’t seem to fix their relationship as the problems just moved with them.

It’s important that, in a marriage, both the man and woman are fully committed to each other, no matter what life throws at them. Simply hiding behind success, like Scott, or distraction, like Annie, should not detract one from their spouse and their commitment. As the Bible states of marriage…

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” —Genesis 2:24

“For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her.” —Ephesians 5:25

“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” —Colossians 3:14

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” —Matthew 19:4-6

Closing Thoughts

Lacking in character development and thrills, and containing an abundance of violence, profanity, sex and nudity, “The Intruder” should be a wake up call to Hollywood that just because this kind of film might have worked in the past (for reasons I don’t understand) doesn’t mean it works anymore (it’s been bashed by multiple critics). Take my advice, this film is ungodly on many levels, and it’s not recommended for Christian viewing. Go do something more redeeming with your time.

• Violence: Very Heavy
• Profane language: Heavy
• Vulgar/Crude language: Heavy
• Sex: Heavy
• Alcohol: Heavy
• Nudity: Moderately Heavy
• Occult: None

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.