Intruders, dir. Dan Curtis (1992)

NIKKI says:
Today was Alien Day, or, I'm convinced of it, "Steve's attempt to finally make Nikki believe in aliens." It didn't work with Intruders, although the film raised some interesting questions, if what happened to Mary and Leslie is true, of course, as the film suggests.

This one sets itself apart from others with similar subject matter -- Communion, Fire in the Sky -- with female abductees as the focus. Apparently, aliens have visited the both of them throughout their lives, poking them and prodding them, to form a greater understanding of the human species. It's suggested at the film's end that there's a reason for all the abducting that is really quite scary, mostly because of how its shot than the fact it might be true.

Man, these women go through some terror. They get cut and beaten, things shoved in their nose, Leslie gets impregnated. I like to look at the film as a parable of the feminist movement -- Mary and Leslie, one from Hicksville and one from Los Angeles, struggle and fight their male oppressors who only want to examine them, comfort them, or cure them of any wild thoughts. Consider: Mary doesn't want to tell her old boy husband about the abductions (she used to drink, you know) because she fears looking a fool. Leslie winds up in an institution because no one will take her seriously (think Girl, Interrupted). And then when the doctors finally accepts Leslie's story, get this, she backs down and says no, no, she made it all up -- women denying their personal truths to appease men!! See? It all works. Did women invent alien abduction to cope with gender-related stress issues? Now, we're hitting on something.

Then why do so many men get abducted? I'll have to look into it.

You don't hear about alien abductions too much anymore. I wonder if these women still experience random nightly visits?

So, Intruders was an enjoyable three-hour movie, with lots of spooky parts, a few cheesy parts, and left me with something to think about. As I said, I don't think it convinced me about aliens, but it did make me want a visit from them myself. Just cause it might shake things up a bit.

3/5

STEVE says:
The idea of alien abduction has always been a favorite fantasy of mine, ever since I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind as a kid. As horrifying as it was to see little Barry taken by the aliens (though not for Barry himself), it was all so exciting and fascinating. And it kick-started something in my seven-year-old brain. As I grew up, I read the books, I saw the movies, I even looked into the US Government's Majic project - which does exist, aliens or not - and have drawn my own conclusions on the subject of abduction.

Intruders was part of that development - this movie and Budd Hopkins' book - but it's better in memory than it was in reality, I'm afraid to say. I don't know if it was production value, the script, or what, but it didn't gel for me the way it used to - if it ever did - and indeed looked rather silly.

But maybe that's exactly how they wanted it to look...

Something to think about.

2/5