Home invasion thrillers have been commonplace for a long time, but their continuing appeal derives, I think, from the simple truth that, for almost all of us, home is a very, very important part of our lives. It can be our sanctuary from what's wrong with the world. So when someone or something invades it, the results can be not only disconcerting but extremely frightening.
The Intruder is a 2019 film written by the late David Loughery and it benefits from a suitably intense, and indeed at times manic, performance by Dennis Quaid as the eponymous bad guy. Quaid throws himself into the role of Charlie Peck with gusto and Michael Ealy and Meagan Good are effective as Scott and Annie Howard, the upwardly mobile couple who decide to escape urban living to move out to a nice house in the country with a view to raising a family.
The snag is that although Charlie reduces the price of the property (to a mere $3.3 million - the Howards are doing well financially...) and therefore appears keen to move to live with his daughter in Florida, in fact he hangs around in a rather troubling way. Even more disturbing, he has his eye on Annie, whose marriage to Scott has been through a rocky patch in the past.
There are various plot holes in the screenplay. For instance, one plot twist depends on a significant feature of the house that had me wondering why the surveyor never spotted it! And Annie's decision to allow Charlie back into the house after he has displayed his creepiness quite unequivocally was crazy. But the direction by Deon Taylor is just about brisk enough to justify the necessary suspension of disbelief.
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