Directed by: Son Won-pyung (손원평) Starring: Song Ji-hyo (송지효), Kim Mu-yeol (김무열) Release date: June 4th, 2020
Intruder is an intriguing mystery thriller film that features some good performances and a surprising twist. It’s the first feature from director Son Won-pyeong, whom it may be worth noting is female since there are not many women directors outside the independent film scene that I have seen. Intruder isn’t a big film per say, but the popularity of the actors combined with all the release delays of other major films due to COVID, Intruder has built up some buzz before its wide release.
The successful architect Seo-jin (Kim Mu-yeol) suffers from bouts of acute psychological distress after losing his wife in a brutal hit-and-run accident and has temporarily moved back in with his aging parents. With the culprit still on the loose, Seo-jin undergoes hypnotherapy sessions aimed to help recall evidence from the day his wife was killed. After months of failed results, he is urged to take medication and to focus on raising his young daughter.
One day, a woman claiming to be his younger sister Yu-jin (Song Ji-hyo), who disappeared as a child 25 years earlier, returns out of the blue with no memory of her past and begins living with the family. A strange new light is brought into the home as Yu-jin becomes a big help around the house. But Seo-jin remains skeptical about the authenticity of his sister’s return and hires an investigator to dig deeper into her past. And the more Seo-jin uncovers about his supposed sister the worse his paranoia grows, threatening the stability of his family forever.
Intruder is similar to the supernatural thriller The Closet (2020) that came out earlier this year in several ways. 1) Both movies are about fathers experiencing psychological distress after losing their wife in an automobile accident. 2) Both films are also set in a large dark house and the widowed fathers, 3) who are also both architects, 4) are left in a rough spot raising their young daughter.
But where The Closet goes supernatural, Intruder explores more real world phenomena surrounding the occult. Themes relating to mental stability and belonging arise as characters confront a similarly bizarre and perhaps even slightly scarier threats that stem from the neglect of familial duties. Intruder was initially set to release one month or so after The Closet and I’m glad it didn’t as these similarities would have even been more glaring.
Kim Mu-yeol gives a very committed performance as the widowed father, but I feel his role will frustrate viewers as he isn’t the most logical character in a lot of instances. Song Ji-hyo is the most interesting actor to watch though. Besides being a regular on the hit variety show ‘Running Man’, Intruder is a bigger role for her domestically speaking, and she brings an excellent level of mystery to the role. She also helps provide most of the creepy vibes with her occasional cold looks.
Overall, Intruder is an interesting take on the home invasion genre. Instead of the typical unlawful break in that creates a lot of quick terror and damage, Intruder has someone coming in lawfully and in broad daylight that’s capable of inflicting similar levels of harm but in a more methodical and calculated way and over a prolonged period of time. The result is perhaps scarier and makes for rather gripping entertainment, albeit a bit far fetched.
Intruder gets pretty twisted in its final act but doesn’t go off the rails. If you’ve seen the film Hereditary (2018), there were a few minutes where I felt like Intruder was heading in that direction (in all the right ways) but it decides to play it much more safe. Intruder could have ramped it up a few notches, and it loses its mystique the more it tries to explain itself. The end result becomes like so many average Korean thrillers– very watchable but ultimately forgettable.
I would compare ‘Intruder’ to an airport novel that you picked up from that endcap kiosk at the gift shop, read it straight through on the plane (maybe even skipped the meal because you couldn’t put it down), then when you got to where you were going and your friend asked about the flight, you said, “You know I read this great book…” but you couldn’t recall the title.
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