The Intruder (1999)

the audience applauded

Best movie ever!

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

David Bailey, a well known photographer, tried his hand at directing by turning Brooke Leimas' novel, which we read some time ago, into a mystery film. The screen play is by Jamie Brown, and it appears his adaptation is the basic flaw with the finished product.We are given a premise that has been used before with better results. The second wife who comes to live in an unhappy place where the ghost of a dead woman comes back to haunt the new wife and make her life impossible. After all, even from a grave, don't play with a woman's sense of possession, she will come back to haunt whoever dares.Stella, who is only seen by Catherine, a French young woman who has married Nick, a composer of music for the movies. Everything seems to go bad when strange things are happening in the couple's apartment. It doesn't help that most of Catherine's new friends seem to be in some sort of conspiracy of silence and will not tell her anything about the past and what kind of marriage Stella and Nick had together.Charlotte Gainsbourg is an actress that deserves better. Her Catherine shows some good moments, but like everyone else, she is bogged down by a scenario that doesn't make much sense. Natassja Kinski, plays the enigmatic neighbor that seems to know what is behind the things Catherine seems to be experiencing, but doesn't tell her. The rest of the cast don't have much to do.

I cannot comprehend how films this bad get made, what with all the time, money and effort that goes into film-making. Didn't anyone (the director, the producer, the editors) WATCH the film??? Couldn't they SEE how bad it was??? It contains some of the WORST acting I have ever seen. Reminded me of one of those "adult" films that Showtime broadcasts late at night. Just simply awful. I still can't believe that Nastassja Kinski agreed to be a part of this. Fortunately for us, David Bailey hasn't directed another feature-length film since! Avoid this piece of crap at ALL COSTS. Better yet, BUY every copy you can find, both the VHS and the DVD (I guarantee you this will be in the El Cheapo Clearance Dump Bins all over the world), and destroy them to spare the rest of humanity from this atrocity...

Does anyone know which character in the movie owns a "Claus Martin"? I've heard that this is a very strange movie, though not a very good one. I've looked around for it, but haven't been able to find it in any video store. I also wanted to know if it is worth watching and spending a whole bunch of time and money on this film. I would like to think that the fact of Natassja Kinski starring in this film would be determining towards watching it, given that she typically appears in very decent movies. But I'm not sure if I should give this movie a try. Can anyone tell me a little bit more about it? And where can i buy it from?

I saw this film on video, on a cold snowy day. Perfect conditions for this type of dark, mysterious movie. Charlotte Gainsbourg is quite intriguing as the lead. Ditto Nastassja Kinski as the oddly vulpine neighbor and Molly Parker as the eccentric Miss LonelyHearts. I wish I could say nice things about everyone else. Alas, there are some weak actors in some supporting roles who appear to be reading their lines from a teleprompter. And...the plot, though fun and slightly sci-fi, becomes so murky that as a viewer, I simply had to give up on understanding it and busied myself with the suspense factors instead. For me, it finally boiled down to "will she make it out alive or will she not?"