There are too many horror movies with the title INTRUDER or a variation thereof – some add a "THE", some make it plural, they're all crowding a market that should belong to Scott Spiegel's 1989 slasher classic INTRUDER. If I heard another new horror movie was coming out with INTRUDER as the title, I would be annoyed… but while there is another THE INTRUDER coming to Blu-ray soon, I can't get annoyed about this one. Writer/producer/director Chris Robinson's THE INTRUDER was made in 1975, but never released.
Robinson's THE INTRUDER never made it to theatres or home video despite the fact that it stars Mickey Rooney, Yvonne De Carlo of The Munsters, and Ted Cassidy of The Addams Family. A slasher made before HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH brought on the slasher boom, it tells the following story:
The lust for gold brings eleven visitors to a remote island retreat, but an unseen, seemingly unstoppable evil follows to stalk them one by one. The bodies don’t stop dropping until the final shattering conclusion. Who — or what — is the intruder? One thing is for certain: it will not stop until it kills them all.
Shelved due to disagreements among the distributors, THE INTRUDER was long thought to be lost for good – the only 35mm print disappeared and the elements were destroyed. Thankfully, Garagehouse Pictures owner Harry Guerro discovered that 35mm print in a storage facility back in 2012, and now his company will finally be bringing the film to horror fans with an all-region Blu-ray release.
The Blu-ray specs:
Transferred in 4K and fully restored in HD from the only 35mm film print
Sound digitally remastered from the original optical tracks
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1
Audio commentary with Chris Robinson
Archival interview with Chris Robinson
Liner notes
Garagehouse Pictures trailers
THE INTRUDER has a running time of 87 minutes and has not been rated.
The Blu-ray has a release date of August 1st, and copies can be pre-ordered through DiabolikDVD.com.
THE INTRUDER is getting a release 42 years later than expected, but better late than never. It's so cool that this lost film has been unearthed that I don't even mind that it's adding yet another INTRUDER into the genre. I look forward to finding out what we've been missing all these years.