Deadly Intruder

My review was written in March 1985 after watching the movie on Thorn EMI video cassette.

Deadly dull sums up "Deadly Intruder", an underdeveloped horror picture made last year and too weak for theatrical use, going directly into the home video market.

Stale premise and predictable twist concerns a psycho, escaped from an institution, on the rampage in a small town while local cop (Stuart Whitman, in for a couple of scenes wearing a beard) and his men haplessly try to catch him. A drifter (played by screenwriter and co-producer Tony Crupi) kidnaps the heroine (Molly Cheek), and is mistaken for the real psycho.

Relying on the stalker formula, pic repeatedly sets up situations of gore and mayhem yet tastefully avoids showing the carnage on screen. However, homevideo fans will appreciate the inclusion of several nude scenes, including one of the heroine that is photographed (head always out of frame) as if a body double was being utilized.

John McCauley's direction is mediocre, offering little style and relying upon a self-written musical score heavily indebted.to the repetitive keyboard figures favored by Italian rock group Goblin and America's John Carpenter.