The Intruder (2024)--My Take On The Movie With Ending Spoilers!
Plot: After moving into a new house, Michael begins to suspect that someone has been breaking into his house every night.
The Intruder isn't a competent thriller. There are too many plot points that are inserted but not resolved. There are characters that serve only to extend the running time. The story, while decent, could have been severely edited and made to work capably as a short.
At times, the story seems to lean towards dark humor, and perhaps that is just what this movie needed rather than being taken as a serious one. But opportunities are missed, and instead, we get an elongated version of a story that doesn't pull your interest.
The Intruder can, therefore, be best described as an okay watch. Don't expect too much out of it, and maybe you won't be bored.
THE INTRUDER Movie Plot
The movie begins with Michael having a nightmare. He thinks he sees a hooded figure bent over him.
The bell suddenly rings, and Michael finds a large man at the door. He introduces himself as Joe and states that he is a neighbor.
Joe then tells Michael that he is friends with the woman who stayed in the house before being friends with him. He requests that Michael see the house.
Michael hesitates, but then lets him in. Joe notices the unpacked boxes, and Michael says that even though it has been more than a week, he still hasn't settled in.
Joe used to be a salesman and advised Michael to set up a security system. Michael considers it.
Joe also invites Michael to dinner, to which he agrees.
Michael FaceTimes his sister Jenny, who encourages him to make friends with the new neighbor. It is also implied that Michael may be a little nervous to live alone.
At dinner, Michael meets Joe's wife, Olivia, who barely has two dialogues in the movie. She's seen in the background lingering about and doesn't even get the camera to focus on her properly.
Anyway, the couple tells Michael about the woman called Nancy, who used to live there before, and how she suddenly decided to leave and now lives in Tennessee. They tell Michael to install security systems.
At this point, they should have shown that Joe was a salesman who sold security cameras the way he kept going behind Michael.
The couple also tells him about recent break-ins in the area.
Michael immediately orders security cameras from Amazon, needing no more convincing after that.
In the meantime, Michael continues to experience sleep disturbances and suspects someone is in the house.
Joe keeps coming to see Michael, and when he tells him that he thinks there is an intruder in the house, he advises Michael to download a sleep app.
Michael does that, too. There are more sleep disturbances, and Michael's cameras finally arrive. He installs them all around and the next morning, realizes that the outdoor camera had fallen down.
Is it too late to leave a review and return it to Amazon?
If anything, Michael orders even more cameras to place around the house.
He also suspects that someone may have duplicate keys and is entering the house.
He decides to call up Nancy, who talks sweetly to him before panicking when she realizes that he is living in her old house. She practically tells him it is haunted and to get away.
Michael thinks he's talking to a loony woman and ends the call when more of his cameras arrive.
Later, Joe hands him a parking ticket and tells him that there are rules in the neighborhood about parking cars outside.
But he doesn't really need to pay the penalty.
Afterward, Michael decides to get a gun to protect himself. The vendor asks him several times if mental illness runs in the family. Michael's lack of knowledge about guns is evident, so he is made to practice. He doesn't hit the target, so the vendor advises him to focus less on the target and more on the sight.
Michael finally hits the target.
At night, Michael thinks someone is in the house again and takes out his gun. He shoots near the door when he thinks he sees someone in the dark.
He runs out, waving his gun. Joe comes out to talk to him and tells him that he called the police when he heard gunshots.
Michael quickly dresses up while Joe handles the situation by talking to the cops about making a mistake while reporting the incident.
After the cops leave, Joe talks to Michael about paranoia and the possibility that he may be sleepwalking and causing all the disturbances himself.
Michael gets offended and leaves in a huff.
Agitated, yet distressed about an intruder in the house, Michael goes to visit his sister Jenny. He tells her he wants to crash at her place, and she welcomes him in, going as far as to let him order whatever food he wants. That's what siblings are for!
At night, Michael has a dream of a hooded figure peering over him. He wakes up to find that his sister has fallen asleep in front of the TV, too. He gets a notification on his phone about a motion detected in front of his house.
He checks the camera and finds Joe lurking about it.
Angry, he leaves in the middle of the night, leaving Jenny feeling perplexed about what is going on.
Michael stomps over to Joe's house with his gun.
Joe is obviously heavier and stronger than Michael. He takes the gun and sends Michael away.
When Joe returns to his house, he finds all the cameras he placed outside have gone. They did not fall down but have disappeared.
Joe tries calling Joe for help, but his neighbor no longer wants to be friends with him.
Up in the attic, playing with some pink insulation, is a man in a hoodie.
Uh-oh, that means Michael is right. There is an intruder in the house!
THE INTRUDER Ending Explained
Michael looks at his parking ticket and comes up with an idea to find out if there is an intruder in the house.
He purposely parks his car in the street and then waits by the door till 2 AM so that he can talk to the cop.
Unfortunately, he falls asleep. The Intruder creeps down and shies away when he sees Michael. But realizing he's asleep, he crouches closer to him.
Michael makes to wake up, and the intruder scurries away. Michael goes to see the cop who's giving him a ticket. He admits to doing it on purpose as he wanted to talk to him about whether he had seen any disturbances in his house related to the break-ins in the area.
The cop hasn't seen anyone and reminds Michael not to park his car here. This scene is almost comical and breaks the tension of the movie.
Michael talks to Nancy again, but speaking to her makes him realize that the stress of living alone may be affecting his mental health. He decides to move back in with his parents.
He goes to see Joe and apologizes for his behavior. He eyes the gun on a cabinet near the door.
Joe didn't even think about putting a firearm in a drawer.
His wife is standing in the background and has no dialogue.
Michael leaves, and while he's calling his sister, getting ready to move, he checks his camera footage from last night.
He sees himself near the door, and then the intruder comes to check up on him.
Michael goes towards a room and finds a piece of pink insulation. He sees the attic door is slightly ajar.
Freaking out, he rushes to Joe and grabs his gun from his house. Joe calls the police, afraid that Michael has gone manic.
Michael checks the attic and finds no one. He then comes down to see the intruder waiting for him. He explains that he just wanted to place to shower and sleep.
Michael understands that the man is a squatter, and he was the one Nancy used to hear and imagine as a ghost.
They get into a scuffle, but the police arrive just in time.
After the intruder is taken away, Joe and Michael make up.
Michael decides that he is going to stay after all and finally unpacks.
The movie ends.
Final Thoughts About The Movie
The Intruder would have been a more stand-out movie if those brief sequences with Michael getting prepped to face an intruder were further explored. The movie would have had a better undertone of humor and been more entertaining than a serious take on the theme.
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