''Intruders'' is a 2011

supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of supernatural film and horror 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 Ac ...

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 (; born 5 September 1976) is a Dutch actress. 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, she won the Golden Calf for ...

Daniel Brühl Daniel César Martín Brühl González (; ; born 16 June 1978) is a German and Spanish actor. He has received various accolades, including three European Film Awards and three German Film Awards, along with nominations for two Golden Globe Awar ...

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''. Life and career Early life Pilar López de Ayala Arroy ...

, Ella Purnell, 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 Héctor Benjamín Alterio Onorato was born in Chacarita, Buenos Aires, Chacarita, ...

. The film follows a man and a woman trying to save their children's lives from an imaginary monster, known as Hollow Face, trying to take their faces and souls. ''Intruders'' was released in Spain on 7 October 2011 by Universal Pictures International and in the United Kingdom on 27 January 2012 by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

. The film 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 open within the family unit. It seems that no security measure can keep out Hollow Face.

Cast

as John Farrow *

as Susanna * Ella Purnell as Mia Farrow *

as Luisa * Izan Corchero as Juan *

as Father Antonio * Mark Wingett as Grandfather *

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

as Dr. Roy *

as Dr. Rachel * Raymond Waring 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 communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...

, 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 Universal Pictures International 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 cinemas 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 aggregator, 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 ...

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 an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

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

'' 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 thriller films 2011 multilingual films 2010s American films 2010s British films 2010s English-language films 2010s Spanish films 2010s Spanish-language films 2010s supernatural horror films 2010s supernatural thriller films American horror thriller films American supernatural horror films American supernatural thriller films Atresmedia Cine 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 Spanish horror thriller films Spanish supernatural horror films Spanish-language American films English-language horror thriller films