After the suicide of her mentally ill mother, Rose Halshford (Miranda Cosgrove) and her father Jerry (Donal Logue) quickly leave the family home and move into a house in need of repairs. Rose, a Stanford student, copes with her mother's death, forcing Jerry to insist that she take a year off from college to focus on recovery. Rose is on medication to help with an underlying illness, similar to her mother's. However, she secretly flushes the medications down the toilet. The new house is big, with a spooky basement that seems to attract Rose. Shortly after the move, Rose begins to notice objects being moved and Jerry's stuff begins to disappear. They also discover that a young woman who used to live in the house had mysteriously disappeared, followed shortly after by the woman who owned the house. Now Rose must find out what happened to them before she suffers the same fate.
"The Intruders" is director Adam Massey's second film, following his 2006 debut with "A Lobster Tale." While his debut film was a lighthearted indie that seemed to do well during its festival run, "The Intruders" represents a change of pace and style for the filmmaker. What both films have in common is the use of well-known actors in central roles, who elevate the film with their acting ability rather than the weight of their names. As a mystery film, "The Intruders" presents a gradual revelation, where the protagonist finds clues only when convenient for the pace of the narrative. For example, only several days after moving into the house, Rose discovers a locked wooden door in the basement which triggers her investigation. After all, who examines every room in a house right after moving in? It is better to leave what is in the basement for later, when there is time to get used to the other two floors. As the thread of suspense continues to unravel, the characterizations remain so formulaic and the horror so banal that the story could have been automatically generated by an artificial intelligence program.
Debut screenwriter Jason Juravic introduces several key characters to the plot. Like Rose's new neighbor, Howard Markby (Tom Sizemore), who was at some point a suspect in the missing woman's disappearance. Noah Henry (Austin Butler) is helping repair Rose's new home, and he and Rose begin to become romantically involved. As we begin to notice someone lurking in the background, we wonder which of these characters is to blame for the murder of the missing woman. There are false leads mixed in with enough real ones to keep us on our toes as we try to guess who the killer is.
Miranda Cosgrove, known for her career in television and music, takes on a role here that is significantly different from what the public used to see her. She embodies the character of Rose with a convincing melancholy, presenting a marked contrast to her former image. Her performance brings a touch of authenticity to the journey of a young woman confronted with disturbing supernatural events. On the other hand, Donal Logue, playing Rose's father, is stuck in a one-dimensional role that doesn't allow him to explore his talent. He mainly serves as a barrier to the protagonist, expressing skepticism of her claims and contributing little to the plot's development. The romance between Rose and Noah, played by Austin Butler, adds a love interest element to the story. However, this subplot doesn't offer much emotional impact to the main narrative, and the secondary characters don't get the same deep development that Rose gets.
The sound of piano keys echoes in an opening montage, with slow shots on old decaying dolls. The camera switches to the shaky motion shot style for the hectic scenes where Rose may be acting "crazy". A conveniently uncovered necklace connects the story's three main characters. The lights flicker eerily. Someone suddenly sits upright in bed after waking up from a nightmare. The protagonist stumbles while running. There are even several library research scenes, highlighted by discrepancies in architectural blueprints and one of those movie search engines that try to be Google without actually being Google. In short, the film follows with determination a list of suspense clichés to deliver a predictable production.
When compared to Kate Hudson in "The Skeleton Key," the choice of "The Intruders"' as a middling thriller entertainment choice comes down to whether Miranda Cosgrove is the preferred attractive young actress to tackle the haunted story of a house scary and its secrets revealed slowly. With peripheral boxes ticked for a lukewarm thriller that mixes vengeful ghost hauntings with small-town mysteries centered around a troubled heroine, "The Intruders" ends up being another brick in the pile of formulaic thrillers, better suited to filling cable programming. On a midweek night than to stand out as a memorable film. The only real surprise the film holds is that it's not the haunted house story we initially anticipated, joining a number of other films that were released around the same time, including "The Pact (2012)" and "The Boy (2016)", which reveal that what initially appears to be a haunted house movie has a mundane explanation.
But still, what bothers you the most here is its predictability. Once it is revealed that the previous occupants have "left" under mysterious circumstances and that the house has been remodeled so that large rooms and hallways are hidden behind walls (a detail revealed a few minutes into the film), it's not that difficult to piece together the parts. And, again, predictable never equals scary. Furthermore, the film seems to resort to clichés common to low-budget thrillers. Miranda Cosgrove's character, Rose, follows the stereotype of many young protagonists in films of this genre, showing resentment for the move to the new house. Her father, played by Donal Logue, acts like many fathers in horror movies, initially dismissing his daughter's concerns as figments of his imagination. Although Miranda Cosgrove and Donal Logue give decent performances, the weak plot does not allow the film to stand out. The plot seems to be a repetition of similar stories already seen before. For example, when she is cooking and turns off the stove, it was easy to predict that someone would turn it back on as soon as she left the room, simply because the film showed her turning off the stove burner for a few seconds. Not to mention predictable jump scares, the disappearance of a character who was obviously not killed, unfounded suspicions to mislead the public, and the "villain" shown in photos just to bet on which moment he would appear on the scene with our protagonist.
The direction of the film chooses to use visual and sound elements typical of suspense films, such as the echoes of piano keys, shaky cameras in moments of tension and flashing lights, to create a frightening atmosphere. These technical choices are effective in creating a sense of unease, but they fail to fully compensate for the lack of originality and the limitations of a formulaic, predictable plot. Although it contains elements of suspense and the paranormal, the film fails to create a genuinely frightening atmosphere. Horror movie fans will be able to see an established formula, featuring a female protagonist confronted by paranormal events as she tries to unravel the secrets of a haunted house, but at no point will they shiver or sit on the edge of their seat looking forward to the next big reveal or scene. Repulsive. The performance by one of Nickelodeon's perennial teen muses, Miranda Cosgrove, is a standout, but the film as a whole fit more comfortably in the category of generic thriller entertainment than in the genre's list of notable films.
