Intruders

Adam Wingard's You're Next (2011) proved home-invasion horror doesn't always pan out as expected, and this initially intriguing first feature from director Adam Schindler serves up similarly wrong-footing fare. Beth Riesgraf stars as young, well-to-do recluse Anna Rook, whose home is targeted by a larcenous trio of chancers while she's away at a funeral. Trouble is she has chronic agoraphobia, so her unforeseen presence unwittingly sends their plans into rapid freefall. But this is no Wait until Dark in which a helpless victim is at the mercy of psychos - indeed, it's really only Martin Starr's sardonic sociopath Perry who's properly menacing. Repulsion and the Saw franchise are more relevant references here, as Anna's suitably mazy mansion becomes a decidedly deadly place. However, Schindler's debut is no gruesome dilemma-dealing shocker à la Saw; at best it's unnerving but the early suspense soon dissipates, leaving you wanting more (or maybe that should be gore).