I recently got contacted by filmmaker Eric Shapiro (Bango) to check out two of his horror films. The first of these I watched was Intrusive; an indie demonic possession film (directed and co-written by him) that while not without its issues, was still a very interesting film.
Sabina (Rhoda Jordan - Bango, Death Factory) arrives at the apartment block home of psychic Kelly (Sherill Quinn - Ted Bunny) for a session with the woman. Obviously afraid and desperate, Sabina tells the psychic that she hears the voice of a mysterious woman in her mind, and needs help to rid herself of this troubling issue. Under hypnosis, Sabina begins to exhibit psychotic tendencies, with Kelly suspecting the woman might be mentally ill rather than actually hearing an unknown voice. However, when she comes to speak to the voice within Sabina, Kelly begins to believe that something hauntingly authentic might be going on.
This felt like an even more indie bedfellow to stunning German demonic possession film, Luz. Both mainly take place in a singular location, both use hypnosis as a means to expose the hidden evil, and at 70 minutes long each, they even share the same length. For the first half of Intrusive, I felt this was going to be a really great movie. The first 35 minutes is one long drawn out scene between Kelly and Sabina/Phentara (the entity's name), with the former slowly realising that there is something supernatural happening. I was on the edge of my seat wandering where the story was going to go; the build-up with Sabina's anxiety created a lot of tension. I thought Quinn was great in her role as Kelly, a professional, but also having that professional mask slip at times to reveal the real Kelly.
At the halfway point, Intrusive changes to a setting I wasn't expecting, moving to a new character; Paul (Richard Caines - Bango), who is out in a park taking his baby for a walk in its pram. His story and the previous one overlap in fascinating ways, with it shown that both plotlines are occurring at the same time.
While the first half was single-room horror drama, the second half did something a bit different and in the process slightly trips over its own feet. In this second part, the protagonist is having a strange day, hearing voices wishing him harm that appear to be coming from the baby. This whole section came across as humorous rather than chilling, with bizarre event after bizarre event making for some comedic scenes. At one point as an example, the baby ends up clinging to a tree branch!, then there is Paul's panicked run scene that plays in slow motion like a running sequence from comedy action film Crank, and his constant falling over didn't help give the character any dignity. This part did add to the overall story, but the more light hearted vibe affected the unsettling first half. There was a fun cameo from the director in this segment that was nice to see.
This indie film didn't require fancy special effects or big set pieces to sell its paranormal events in a grounded setting. Like Luz, the intentions of the antagonist threat are relatively minor at this stage, making for an insular and intimate story with a small cast of characters. While not a great film, Intrusive was still a good film, it did interesting things with how the story was set-out (silly cliff-hanger ending aside), and the back and forth between the two tangentially related stories was well implemented. Intrusion can currently be viewed for free on TubiTV.
SCORE:
No comments:
Post a Comment