Intruder

Intruder is an ambitious sci-fi thriller/comedy from writer director Christian Jude Grillo, starring Bree (Dana Godfrey) as a scrappy cage fighter going through the motions as the rest of the world prepares for annihilation. The moon is on a crash course with Earth, and a lucky few are rich enough to hop aboard their INTRUDER brand spaceships and journey to a nearby space station owned by Jude Micah (D.C. Douglas) of Micah Tech industries. Bree is in the right place at the right time and snags a ship. Unfortunately, her escape pod caries an uninvited guest. Intruder is an entertaining, if wildly scattered movie that builds to a climax only to leave us lost in space.

We first meet Bree as she is disqualified, yet again, from a cage match for throwing a punch after the bell. In a protracted setup we learn that she is a loose cannon estranged from her genius father Martin (Andrew Hunsicker). An employee of the ubiquitous Micah Tech industries, Martin has designed and programed all of the INTRUDER ships offered to the uber rich for a hefty price in exchange for survival. He’s even designed the ship’s humanoid interface Sali (Mae Claire), as a sort of sister for his rebellious daughter.

When Martin learns from his boss that there is no room on the company mothership for him, he steals an INTRUDER and stages it for departure. In a moment of chaos, Bree ends up onboard the small vessel and is shot into space. But she is not alone. Weird things start happening, faces appear in ventilation shafts, lingering evidence of another being is discovered. Will Bree make it to the space station before her passenger gets to her?

To be fair, Grillo has a really good story here. Inspired by everything from Alien to 2001, we have the set up for a tense haunted house in space scenario. What Grillo lacks, however, is focus. There is a generous amount of time spent on setting up Bree and the world she lives in. This includes news breaks featuring anchorman Jim Kramer (Paul Monte Jr.) and correspondent Stacey Laurel (Britnee Glasco) whose cutaways become increasingly silly as Earth comes to terms with destruction. It also includes an insufferable uber rich family that has purchased an INTRUDER ship. About a third of the way through the film Bree is in space, but we are still cutting back to Earth. These bits are mildly amusing, but they don’t seem to serve the story enough to warrant the screen time. The story has left the planet.

Finally, Bree is surviving and flying through space. That’s when the interesting story happens. Bree must find a way to survive on a stolen ship with an unknown passenger that is headed to the space station where she must face her father’s evil boss. But no, let’s cutaway to the funny news anchors again.

The performances from the talent on screen are serviceable to adequate, but truth be told, the star of the film ends up being Claire‘s Sali. Her glib, detached persona that assists Bree through increasingly dangerous moments perfectly calibrates the balance of humor and thrills and sets things on course.

What’s funny about Intruder is that I enjoyed it more as it went along. But just when the movie begins to hit light speed it cuts to credits. As a popcorn flick, Intruder is entertaining enough. But Grillo should have kept his focus on his main character rather than looking back to Earth for a few more laughs.