The Intruder (2019 film)

The Intruder is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed by Deon Taylor and written by David Loughery. The film stars Michael Ealy and Meagan Good as a couple who buy a house in the country, only to realize its previous owner (Dennis Quaid) refuses to let it go.

It was released in the United States on May 3, 2019, by Sony Pictures Releasing, and received generally negative reviews from critics.

Plot
Scott and Annie Howard move into their new house in Napa Valley, but its previous owner, Charlie Peck, becomes obsessed with keeping an eye on the couple and ensuring his house remains untouched. Though Scott is annoyed with Charlie, Annie feels sorry for him as he had told them his wife died of cancer two years earlier, and that he will be soon be moving to Florida to live with his daughter. Scott and Annie have their friend Mike and his wife over for dinner. Mike urinates outside and smokes; he senses he is being watched, and drops his cigarette on the ground. When he and his wife leave, he is distraught to find cigarette burns inside his prized car.

Charlie continues to show up unannounced, mowing the lawn and berating workers installing a security system. Annie, feeling bad for Charlie, invites him over for Thanksgiving Dinner, along with Mike and his wife. When Mike goes outside for a smoke, Charlie follows and intimidates him. Mike suspects that Charlie left the cigarette burn marks in his car, and later insists that Scott and Annie are being watched. Scott and Annie are unconvinced, so Mike persuades Scott to accompany him to search the woods behind the house, where they are chased by an unknown vehicle.

Tensions rise between Scott and Annie due to Scott's coldness to Charlie, and when Annie discovers that Scott met some colleagues and clients at a bar. It is revealed that before marrying Annie, Scott cheated on her with a client at a bar. At the meeting at the bar, one of the clients, Jillian, kisses Scott and he realizes that Annie was right to be worried. He leaves immediately and returns home, but has an argument with Annie and sleeps on the couch. They reconcile after they are both awakened in the middle of the night by a noise, and have sex on the floor, unaware Charlie is watching. Scott runs into a neighbor at a coffee shop, who reveals that Charlie's wife killed herself with Charlie's shotgun, and Scott asks Mike to investigate Charlie. Charlie develops an obsession with Annie and begins visiting the home when he knows Scott is gone. One day, while Scott is jogging, Charlie hits him with his car.

In the hospital, Scott calls Mike, who explains that Charlie had lived with his wife Ellen and daughter Cassidy, but was deeply in debt and was forced to sell the house. Meanwhile, Charlie shows up at the house with a pizza, and Annie invites him inside. Sent to the house by Scott to check on Annie, Mike is confronted by Charlie, who declares that he has a chance to get back all that he lost, and must get rid of Scott. Before Mike can answer, Charlie kills him with an axe.

Scott contacts Cassidy, who has changed her name to Vanessa Smith, and asks about her mother's suicide. Explaining that Charlie killed Ellen after she threatened to divorce him and take the house, she tells Scott that she actually lives in Maine, as far away from Charlie as she could get, and if Charlie were ever to show up, she would kill him. Meanwhile, Charlie attacks Annie; pursued through the house, she discovers his underground cellar connected to the house through a linen closet, where he has been living and has stored Mike's body.

Scott returns home to find Charlie trying to rape Annie, but they fight back and overpower him before seizing his gun. Annie calls the police and tells them, "My husband just shot an intruder", and the screen goes black as a gunshot is heard.

Cast

 * Dennis Quaid as Charlie Peck
 * Michael Ealy as Scott Howard
 * Meagan Good as Annie Howard
 * Joseph Sikora as Mikey

Production
In May 2018, Ealy, Good and Quaid all signed onto the project. It was then announced that the worldwide distribution rights had been acquired by Screen Gems at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, after production had been completed under the title Motivated Seller.

Release
The Intruder was released in the United States on May 3, 2019. It was previously set for an April 26, 2019 release, but was pushed back a week to separate from Avengers: Endgame.

The first trailer for the film was released on November 19, 2018.

Box office
, The Intruder has grossed $30.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $0.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $31 million, against a production budget of around $8 million.

In the United States and Canada, The Intruder was released alongside Long Shot and UglyDolls, and was projected to gross $9–16 million from 2,222 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $3.9 million on its first day, including $865,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $11 million, finishing second, behind holdover Avengers: Endgame. The film grossed $6.6 million in its second weekend, finishing in fourth.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 29% based on 80 reviews, with an average rating of 4.14/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Intruder might appeal to fans of shout-at-the-screen cinema, but this thriller's ludicrous plot robs it of suspense – and undermines Dennis Quaid's suitably over-the-top performance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 39 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars and a 44% "definite recommend."