Intrusion Parent Guide

Following a tough battle with breast cancer, Meera (Frieda Pinto) and her architect husband Henry (Logan Marshall-Green) decide to move to a small town, in a house Henry built for them. The quiet solitude is just what the pair need – until they have their first break-in. Luckily, the couple are on a date at the time, and come back to a bit of a mess, but the only things stolen were their cell phones (which they had left at home) and a computer. Writing it off as bad luck, the couple get back to normal…until it happens again, when Meera and Henry are in bed. While Henry manages to fend off the intruders, the invasion forces Meera to ask some questions about her husband…questions that might be better left unanswered.

I’m noticing a theme with thrillers lately. They seem unable to resist the urge to plant a whole ton of incriminating evidence at the beginning of the film, presumably to make the “big reveal” seem bigger. Unfortunately, if you’re paying any amount of attention to the movie, this also means you can predict the ending of the film within the first twenty minutes. Either that or I’m the Sherlock Holmes of cinema – which I doubt, not least because I’m not taking unspeakable amounts of cocaine.

Other than that fairly glaring flaw, Intrusion is a competent little thriller. It’s not anything particularly original, but it is fun for what it is. I imagine it would be a lot more fun if you paid a little less attention and couldn’t guess the ending, but I have no way of verifying that. The pacing is nice and brisk, so even when the tension is building the film doesn’t start dragging itself out like a kid trying to stave off bedtime.

It’s also surprisingly tame. There’s almost no profanity to speak of, no sexual content or innuendo, and about as little violence as you can get away with in a thriller and still have some semblance of a plot. Netflix has this rated at TV-14, which I would say is just about right. I’d have no qualms showing this to a 14 year old – provided they’re interested in thrillers. This still isn’t a movie for the easily frightened. If anything, Intrusion is probably better for teenagers who don’t have a lot of familiarity with the genre. Maybe they’d have a harder time guessing the ending.