User reviews

A supernatural creature terrorizes a child, and the adults in that child's life either dismiss the child's fears as nightmarish, or assume the child has some sort of psychosis. This plot line has been done so many times that it's amazing that adults in present-day movies don't second guess themselves more often.

"Intruders" has a bit more of a clever twist to this tired horror movie story line in that the terrorized child, 12-year-old Mia (Ella Purnell), at least has an ally in her father John (Clive Owen), who has actually seen the being trying to harm his daughter.

The being, known to Mia as Hollowman, wears a dark hood and cloak that moves mysteriously in the air like something out of "The Matrix" (1999). The mysterious spirit has the shape of a man, but its face is completely obscured by its hood, making it look a lot like Bruce Willis in the underrated "Invincible" (2000).

The unwelcome visitor does not speak, but Mia somehow knows it does not have a face, and is willing to steal one from a child. Also, despite the plurality of the movie's title, there is only one intruder: this one.

Mia is apparently not the only child haunted by this creature. A much younger Spanish boy named Juan (Izan Corchero) also receives visits from it. The film intersects between the nightly terrors of Mia and Juan, and it makes you wonder what the connection is between these two children. Why did this spirit choose to haunt these two children in two different European countries (Great Britain and Spain), when there are millions of other children in this world whose face (or faces) he could steal? The way these two children's stories intersect is revealed late in the film in a twist I honestly did not see coming. Because it was so clever, I can't ruin it for you, the reader, either.

Unfortunately, it being a horror movie and a suspense thriller, the moments that were supposed to be shocking, and scary, weren't either. The film made the fatal mistake of making the music, which gradually got louder as a scary moment or a "gotcha!" part was approaching, ruin the overall suspense. By the time the mysterious hooded person appeared from out of the dark closet, the score felt more like a great opening act for a weak headliner.

The shock value of this film, or lack thereof, is even more unfortunate when you consider the superb cinematography and great acting from just about everyone involved. Clive Owen rarely fails to disappoint, and fortunately plays a parent who actually believes his petrified daughter.

I especially liked Ella Purnell, who is the kind of child actress who guys in their 20's look at and say, "In five years, she's going to be really hot!" Besides being strikingly beautiful, Purnell looks genuinely scared during the scenes with the creature in the hood, and she is very convincing as Owen's daughter in other less-intense scenes.

I also thought every scene with Corchero, as Juan, and his mother Luisa (Pilar Lopez de Ayala), scary or not, was done incredibly well. They played in good contrast to scenes involving John and Mia. Whereas John believes his daughter's problems are more than nightmares, Luisa believes her son, but uses words of comfort almost in vain. She tries to tell her boy it's only a bad dream, when she's really trying to convince herself. It's a fascinating paradox.

Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is best known to American audiences as the writer & director of "28 Weeks Later" (2007), the well-received sequel to Danny Boyle's acclaimed "28 Days Later" (2003). He definitely knows his horror films, which is why it's so disappointing that "Intruders" didn't live up to his previous effort. While great acting and a dark, eerie atmosphere strengthened this movie, it wasn't enough to scare me.

Putting it another way, I consider a great horror film one where my hands are covering my entire face except one eye, and two of my fingers are on standby to affix over that eye should a scary moment present itself. With "Intruders", throughout the scary parts, my hands remained at my sides.

First off just a quick note, This is not a horror movie. I repeat this is not a horror movie but a drama with horror elements. Intruders is filled with some good ideas however the story and pacing fall flat on it's face. The movie tries to twist and turn the viewer with it's twist-ish ending but however it fails to create any emotion because it keeps certain details hidden from the viewer. The acting is okay throughout the film nothing great, but decent. however the one thing that kills this movie for me is the scene's where hollowface is all cgi. It's completely uncalled for and looks awful. I wish this movie could have been better but unfortunately it's lacking.

Two children, one in Spain, the other in England, are experiencing terrifying visits by the same demon who wants to possess them. The only viable link is that both children are writing a story...

A joint Spanish/English language production, Intruders is the sort of frustrating picture that has big and bold ideas on the page, but sadly on the screen in unfolds laboriously as it bites off more than it can chew. It came as no surprise to myself to find that upon opening internet sites frequented by horror fans, Intruders has greatly disappointed them. It's rarely frightening, sags desperately in the middle section, the pay off is weak, and ultimately it only skirts the boundaries of being a "horror" film.

So, the lack of shocks and suspense in bona fide horror terms needs to be tempered with genre expectation levels, this is more a family drama with fantastical horror elements lurking around the edges of the frame. This of course doesn't help anyone, like myself, who has bought into plot synopsis and the marketing strategy that accompanied the picture, but if able to see past the faceless demon that appears occasionally and promises something else? There's a decent and honest adult film pulsing away here.

Clive Owen plays the troubled father of the piece and he once again, as he did in Trust, shows that given this type of material he can deliver a performance of emotional substance. He's backed up by a very strong turn from young Ella Purnell as his daughter, and with the tech credits high - most notably Roque Baños' superb musical score - there is much to enjoy here. But as thoughtful as it is, and as solid as the film makers credentials are, its reputation is unlikely to be enhanced anytime soon. 6.5/10

Ah, the twist! The "surprise ending", the "shocker", or lack there of. There is an art to surprising people at the end of the movie that is the lifeblood of films like this. This one, unfortunately, is dry. They do a good job of setting up the scenes, making you thoroughly confused before explaining everything. If you can make it that long, which you might not be able to, it is a boring show and the pay off is somewhat weak.

Now, the acting is top notch, Clive Owens does an very good job of playing father, and the supporting cast really commits to this movie. That said, it isn't enough to carry the film through the normal jumps and grabs while you just sit there saying, 'get on with it!'

This film seems to have a very low key marketing and I haven't even seen many critics reviews for it despite it already opening.

I found this to be a pretty decent supernatural bogeyman type thriller with some intriguing psychological twists and turns. The scares are sparsely spread but are effective when they do come. The storyline is quite compelling and is told in two completely separate strands whose only apparent connection is the bogeyman. It had me very engaged and a very creepy atmosphere is maintained.

The performance from all the actors including the children were good, nothing outstanding, just played to realistic levels. There isn't a lot of emotional weight to the characters but I cared about the child protagonists, who are victimised by the "Freddie Nightmare" style dream monster.

The last act is a good one but unfortunately, it was sloppily executed. The finale should have been more dynamic with a bigger impact on its revelations. Given the storyline, its a missed opportunity for the director. Also, there is a big chance you might see some twists coming due to the film's narrative giving too many clues, again a bit sloppy. I did see the revelations coming to an extent but there was still a twist that I didn't expect. I do like the story, its a satisfying one but the execution could have been much better which is a pity. Still the journey was an intriguing one, at times scary and definitely worth a watch.

Intruders is a horror tale of possession in which two children in two different countries are visited by the Hollow Face man who spreads fear across the globe . There's a spooky faceless monster that has been haunting the daughter of John Farrow (Clive Owen). This figure wants to steal her face as she feels he has no identity of his own . John's tried helping his daughter remedy the situation, but each night she still gets a visit from this unwelcomed friend. Things get even spookier once John sees this faceless creature. He's not sure if he's going completely crazy or not, so he installs a security camera . Though no one can see him , Hollow Face lurks in the corners, desperately desiring love but only knowing how to spread fear and hate. He creeps into the life of John Farrow after Farrow's beloved 13-year-old daughter Mia (Ella Purnell) 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 Hollow Face out . Furthermore we're initially introduced to Juan (Izán Corchero) a young Spanish boy who, on one rainy night, is attacked by a strange spectre , known as Hollow face , being helped by his mother (Pilar Gomez Ayala) .

The picture displays mystery, suspense, shocks, grisly terror and eerie scenes when the horrific creature appears . From start to finish the terror and spooky scenes are continuous until a striking ending . The film contains horrifying and hair rising images and a sinister, mysterious atmosphere . It has a couple of twists piled on top of one central twist concerning two children in different countries who are visited nightly by a faceless being and menaced by what seems to be a supernatural presence . Good performance by Clive Owen who stars as John Farrow, a father trying to protect his 13-year-old daughter from the evil entity known as Hollow Face . The acting from Clive Owen , Carice van Houten as his wife , Daniel Bruhl as a priest , Kerry Fox as a Doctor , Hector Alterio as an old priest is much better than the script . Nicolás Casariego and Jaime Marques' screenplay does something strange by the end : it actually removes the stakes of everything that came before with its trio of revelations that at first test and then demolish any credulity the movie had built up by that point. Both of whom manage to create some interest with their dual storytelling style . However , the picture is hampered by a partially fleshed out story that is mostly lacking in horror. Director Fresnadillo throws all of that away in exchange for a terror film without scares, originality or a pulse . Colorful cinematography plenty of lights and shades by excellent cameraman Enrique Chediak . Creepy and thrilling music adjusted to the horror film by Roque Baños .

Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto , 28 Weeks Later) isn't exactly a visionary director like the film bills him as, but he is good at approaching films with style and consistent moods . The director made an editing the film was a big challenge , it was a long, complex process because of the story's dual structure. The film will appeal to terror buffs but gets some decent scares with the apparition of the frightening faceless being who wants to take possession of the children.

Well, OK, let me first start by saying the movie is not "bad".

If you want to go watch an OK to somewhat decent movie, this one is for you, but if your aspirations are any higher you should look for elsewhere.

The movie starts slow but surely it states it's points pretty quickly. An invisible invader haunts 2 different kids from different places, a little kid and a not so little girl. The movie flow nice with the script but the actual "fright" scenes are not very much so, in fact, I didn't experience any scare whatsoever through the movie, and this comes from a guy who after watching The Mothman Prophecies had to sleep with the lights on and had goosebumps for the whole duration.

Sadly, this one, for a scare-suspense movie, does the complete opposite, it's plain and quite hollow. We never really find the motive of the attacks, and the motives are vague to say the least.

The main problem with this one is that the "bad guy" is not scary and the scary scenes don't work, that's it and it's enough for a movie of this genre to fail.

If we take out this one little problem, the rest of the movie is OK, good acting and some good twists at the end, but, the main flaws are too big. Number one, lack of good scares, lack of sense of danger, bad timing and for the most important part, a lack of purpose for the attacks.

To add insult to injury, there are scenes so clichéd that bend on ridicule, I can't, for the life of me picture a scary movie where the parents LEAVE the children in the same bed where a monster just attacked them. The first time this happens, well, it's OK, it's movies you know, common sense don't apply, the fifth time it's ridiculous, I would sleep with my kids the first time this happens, does anyone there takes notices of this huge mistakes in common sense?

Recommended only for a casual viewing if you don't have anything more worth watching, if you want real suspense go watch Mothman Prophecies.

Two children from two different countries are seemingly haunted by the same ghostly apparition. As the actions of this malevolent force begin to intrude more and more on their lives both desperately try to be rid of it once and for all.

The best thing about this movie is that it plays on fears and experiences that we have all had in our childhoods, the monster in the closet, the beast under the bed. Waking up in the night and hearing spooky sounds. It's these parts of the movie that are most effective in the scare stakes. Each time one of the children is cautiously peering over their bed sheets you know exactly how they are feeling.

Clive Owen as the father of the English girl is great. Playing the everyman role of the father fearing for his little girls safety is something he seems to take in his stride. The relationship between the father and daughter is very believable and helps towards the tension created later in the movie.

The other family's story a young boy and his single mother, I found distracted slightly from this story. Not that it's not interesting, it's just that I found the other story more interesting. The two do eventually collide and although you may see the twist coming before it's actually revealed it's still quite satisfying.

The feel and some of the imagery of Intruders brought to mind the 80's movie "paperhouse" which is a film I like and recommend if you enjoyed this movie.

The one real problem I had with the movie was the poor CG effects on the ghostly creature haunting the young boy and his mother. It seemed strange that they went with CG for one thread of the story and a much more convincing and creepier physical version for the other thread.

I did enjoy this film but I felt that it drifted a few times during the mid section. It's definitely one I could watch again.

'INTRUDERS': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A Spanish and British horror film starring Clive Owen and directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (who also directed the Spanish/British horror sequel '28 WEEKS LATER'). The film was written by Nicolas Casariego and Jaime Marques and tells the story of two children in different countries who are both haunted by the same demon looking to possess them. It co-stars Carice van Houten, Pilar Lopez de Ayala, Ella Purnell, Izan Corchero and Daniel Bruhl. The movie contains some frightening sequences and some decent acting but for the most part is a bore.

One story is set in Madrid and focuses on a young boy named Juan (Corchero) who is terrorized by a monster called Hollowface. His mother (Ayala) sees the demon as well but is unable to stop it so she calls on a local priest (Bruhl) to help exorcise it. Another story focuses on a young girl named Mia (Purnell), in London, who is haunted by the same ghost. Before seeing the monster she had found a box with the story of it hidden in a tree at her grandparents' house. She had been telling the story of 'Hollowface' to other students at her school before being stalked by it as well. Her father John (Owen) is extremely close to Mia, and protective of her, so when he sees the monster as well he becomes obsessed with stopping it. Unfortunately it's unclear whether the monster is in fact real or just a figment of their imagination and John's wife Susanna (Houten) is starting to believe the latter (as well as the priest in Madrid).

The movie has decent enough production values and looks great (for a low budget horror film); the monster looks cool as well and is pretty frightening. Like I said earlier the acting is all adequate as well, especially another passion filled performance by Owen: he kind of holds the movie together. The directing is decent enough as well but the overall storytelling leaves much to be desired. It's just too slow paced and uninvolving, despite the passionate performance of Mr. Owen. If you're just looking for some cheap monster movie thrills you could do a lot worse but you could also do a lot better.

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People are too uneducated these days about scary movies, they think they should all be 'horror' movies. You'll see this 'disappointment' in a lot of reviews for this movie: Oh it was the worst horror movie ever, not scary enough, blah blah. But see,.. it's a Psycho Thriller.

It's about the mind. Not blood and gore, not melting flesh. It's about how horror comes to life around us - when it is real, when it is imagined, and when it's real because it has been imagined.

Good movie. Enjoy.

This sentence is here just because IMDb thinks reviews have to be longer than they need to be, and most reviewers agree, so they spend a lot of time telling you the same thing you just read in the movie description and how pleased they were to catch it at some film festival.

The story is all kinds of riveting until one understands just what a colossal letdown this flick is. When you consider that this occurs in the first half you get that there is a whole lot of letting down going on. A child in Spain and a child in England each have encounters with Hollow Face, who appears in their rooms at night. Hollow Face is real scary, as most face-missing types are. The conceit of switching from one scenario to another is always masking a lesser script but the way it is used in this movie is particularly misleading.

In Madrid, the boy Juan is terrified by the monster Hollowface and his mother is unable to protect him and summons Father Antonio (Daniel Brühl) to exorcise the monster from their lives.

In London, the construction worker John Farrow (Clive Owen) is very close to his teenage daughter Mia (Ella Purnell). One day, Mia is spending the day at her grandparents' house in the countryside with her mother Susanna (Carice van Houten) and she finds a box with the story of Hollowface hidden in a tree. Sooner Mia sees the monster Hollowface in the closet of her bedroom and John defends her. When they are attacked for the second time, the security camera that John has installed does not show any intruder. Are Mia and John delusional?

"Intruders" is a disappointing horror film with a magnificent cast, beautiful cinematography, good CGIs but wasted in a mediocre screenplay and a hollow and messy story. Surprisingly there are viewers that seem to have liked this senseless film. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Intrusos" ("Intruders")

This was an intense movie if for anything the sheer mysteriousness and eeriness of "Hollowface".

"Intruders" was a bit confusing to start because there were two stories seemingly running congruently; one with a little Spanish boy and the other with a British girl. The one common theme between the two was Hollowface, a faceless creature seeking to steal the faces of the two protagonists.

The two stories were woven together well. The movie kept you in the dark as to what was really going on up until the end. There were some serious intense moments and some creepy hair-raising moments. The performances were good and it was a solid production.

Intruders – TRASH IT ( C ) Intruders is about a young boy and girl getting haunting by the Hallow face at night in two different countries Spain & UK. The director presented both stories simultaneously which was a good idea, but when the story is bleak and even you cast Clive Owen it won't make any sense. All I can say that a Spanish boy grows up to be a British lad is not a suspense it's cheating. Izán Corchero and Elle Purnell are simply amazing in Intruders. These two young actors manage to scare with their pure innocence. Clive Owen, Pilar López de Ayala, Carice van Houten and Daniel Brühl are good in their respective parts. Overall, there is nothing much to talk about it, the mediocre script tanks the movie.

Honestly, I was really liking the movie at first and felt ready to write nothing but positive things about it. There however gets a point in the movie when you realize that it just isn't going anywhere and it just won't become any more tense or interesting to watch.

It really is a perfectly atmospheric horror production but as it turns out, its all style and buildup, without ever having any good payoff.

Problem with this mostly lies with its story. This story tries to present itself as something really clever, while in fact it really isn't. It needlessly tries to over complicate stuff, which feels forced and besides also really redundant. There just never is a clever or unexpected twist in this movie and when there comes a twist it only makes you go; 'ehh, well OK, if you say so...'.

It seemed like this movie truly had some good ideas in it and there was also plenty potential in it. There is not much wrong with its concept itself but the movie just never really manages to turn it all into something grabbing, tense or mysterious enough.

I guess that the people behind this movie also expected a lot more from it. It got directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who previously had done "28 Weeks Later" and it involved some pretty big name actors, namely Clive Owen and Carice van Houten. I liked Owen in his role but it seems that most of the other characters remained far too underdeveloped and too often got pushed to the background. It doesn't help much that the movie pretty much follows two story lines, set at different places, involving different people, that however unnecessarily complicates things further, without making a relevant enough impression to its story.

It has the right atmosphere and buildup for a movie of this sort but ultimately its lacking in substance and payoff.

6/10

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A child is being visited by a boogeyman. But is it real or is it imaginary? Who knows? Who cares! Whilst there are some good scenes and decent acting especially from the child stars,the movie is ruined by a ludicrously convoluted story line and plot.

Even after watching the film and doing some research I am at a loss to understand what was going on and I believe many others are likewise scratching their heads too.

At the end of a film when all the strands of the story should fall into place and make sense, the opposite happens and many viewers will be left confused and let down.

4/10.

I'm not normally a fan of scary movies but the inclusion of Clive Owen convinced me to give this film a look and I wasn't disappointed. It's cleverly constructed & wastes no time setting up the creepy atmosphere which lasts throughout. To some extent the storyline was predictable however the interesting ending left me more than satisfied. Here's hoping they never make a sequel as it's perfect as a one off experience.

Try not to watch the trailer or read anything more than a brief summary and make your way to the cinema as soon as this one comes out as it's worthy of a cinema experience!

Intruders directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is a boring horror movie that fails to scare you.

Slow-paced,lack of horror makes this a tacky movie! Story: In Madrid, the boy Juan is terrified by the monster Hollowface and his mother is unable to protect him so summons Father Antonio to exorcise the monster from their lives. In London, the construction worker John Farrow (Clive Owen) is very close to his teenage daughter Mia (Ella Purnell). One day, Mia is spending the day at her grandparents' house in the countryside with her mother Susanna (Carice van Houten) and she finds a box with the story of Hollowface hidden in a tree. Soon Mia sees the monster Hollowface in the closet of her bedroom and John defends her. When they are attacked for the second time, the security camera that John has installed does not show any intruder. Are Mia and John delusional?

The movie was so boring that I had to stop the movie in mid-way.

Although it had an interesting idea but still it gets hackneyed by the slow-pacing.

The direction is bad.

Performances: Ella Purnell is the saving grace of the movie.The rest of them perform mediocre.

All in all,Intruders is a bad scary movie.I am giving it a one on ten.Disappointing!

A boy in Spain hears a cat so he does what every other kid would do, climb out the window in the middle of the night and during heavy rain. He sees a hooded man climb in and attack the mother so he screams at him and goes back out the window with the guy in pursuit.

Now in England, a girl celebrating her birthday follows a cat up a tree, finds a giant hole and a box with a paper in it. She reads the paper. It's about "Hollowface" who appears when called and because he has no face no one loves him so he steals the face of a kid. Now she starts seeing Hollowface and so is her dad, who tries to protect her.

Meanwhile the boy in Spain is also seeing Hollowface, who comes out of rot on the ceiling. The mom does what every young mom would do, call a a priest. The priest is more interested in her and consults with an older priest who doesn't see any major problem with the kid. Scenes taking place in Spain are interspersed with scenes from England.

The authorities decide to separate the father from her daughter when they see on cameras he installed that there's nothing but him acting all crazy. They diagnose them with a psychosis that affects two people at the same time. Eventually, when he reads the paper the girl found about Hollowface, he knows what he has to do.

Intruders (the title is rather misleading) is your typical Spanish horror movie, which means ghosts, children, the supernatural, and monotone coloring. And indeed the Spain scenes are filmed in gray, while the scenes in England get more color so much so that during scenes taking place in the girl's bedroom with Hollowface orange light shines through the curtains even though it's the middle of the night. Like most Spanish horror, people's behaviors make little sense. The music and sound effects in Intruders is ludicrous and insufferably loud. When are DVD/BR players finally going to get some sound level stabilizers so that we can enjoy movies without having to tinker constantly with the volume? Intruders is most obnoxious in this regard. Every motion and gesture is accompanies with a full orchestra and jarring sounds at max volume. While Hollywood has this figured out exactly, the director doesn't know how to deal with pauses and his sound effects. The pause before something scary happens (or not) is drawn out for a few seconds too long, just as the some the sound effects are. The audience just gets no break from the noise.

On the positive note, Ella Purnell who plays the girl is beautiful and talented. I'm surprised she hasn't gotten more work. I liked how they brought the two stories together, which if you paid attention isn't much of a surprise but I was too distracted by the noise and dumb script to care so it did come a bit as a surprise. This is the kind of movie that explains everything in the end. I'd say it even went too far in that regard. They just didn't want it to end. There was a point were an end would have been ideal, but the movie goes on, and on, always with pompous and melodramatic music. I guess overall the story was alright for the genre but certainly not as grandiose as the director and scriptwriters thought.

Heading to a local cinema to see a film reviewed as: "a descend in to fear and madness" (Dread Central) is an exciting experience. However, as soon as the film began, my heart sunk.

The story is implausible at best and the actors seem to think this too. Some of them look bored at their own performances! The atmosphere created in the Spanish scenes are more scary but at best, this film could scare a small child (probably 4 years of age) The twist still does not account for major plot lines and leaves the audience dazed. I heard one woman in the audience conclude: "What was that?" and another debating leaving half-way through.

This film has managed to top my list of the worst films I've seen.

The only scary thing I remember was paying £8 to see it!

Why good actors lately playing on movies like this? Unwatchable , not for children not for adults Just crap Tell me what is the reason to make a thriller movie for young children when parents will never let the children watch this and when those children will be capable to watch movies like this they will be grown ups not children any more. So pointless in my opinion. If you ask for adults no this movie is unwatchable , i really tried... Same old stuff same old story and bad acting makes a horrible movie. 4/10 only for the children actors that were mediocre.Also Clive was like no existed and all actors too but i liked a little bit the priest that was leaking Spanish actresses ear ...i know i just imagined this..!