An Intrusion

All through the house, creatures are stirring in writer/director Nicholas Holland’s dark Christmas thriller An Intrusion. Teenager Rebecca (Angelina Danielle Cama) goes downstairs in the middle of the night for a glass of water. In the dim glow of the Christmas lights, behind a large plastic Santa, she sees a hooded figure wearing a spooky mask. Rebecca screams, sending her dad, Sam (Dustin Prince), and mom, Joyce (Erika Hoveland), running. The intruder is nowhere to be seen, but a flagstone with Santa’s face crashes through the window.

Joyce begs Sam to stay home from the office where he works with her brother Chris (Sam Logan Khaleghi). He tells her he is going in early instead and promptly visits his mistress Julia (Kayla Kelly). After one last go at it, Sam ends his affair with Julia, leaving her alone in her apartment with her single branch Christmas tree. That day at work, Sam receives an anonymous e-mail from someone claiming to have been inside his house. Attached is a picture of Sam and Julia going at it that morning. Sam deletes the e-mail, something he mentions later to Detective Simpson (Scout Taylor-Compton) at the station.

“…behind a large plastic Santa, she sees a hooded figure wearing a spooky mask.”

Meanwhile, at school, Rebecca meets up with her boyfriend, Layne (Keir Gilchrist). He seems concerned about her and asks if he can come over later. That night the noises in the house return. Sam prowls around the house with a bat, screaming out that he has a gun. He sees a shadow on the window and opens the blind. Outside is the large plastic Santa with a sign taped to it that says, “You don’t own a gun.” Sam proceeds to beat the Santa to smithereens in front of his terrified family. Who is coming into the house and why? Will Christmas be saved or end in tears and blood?

An Intrusion is a made-in-Michigan indie production that looks and sounds good. Cy Abelnour’s camera work is professional-looking and effective. His mixing of hand-held sequences imparts the intensity of the action along while stylized lighting makes use of the outrageous holiday setting. Andy Nelson’s excellent soundtrack matches the visuals. The composer avoids a traditional orchestral score and incorporates many different styles of music to flavor the proceedings. Sometimes the music sounds light as a feather. At other points, it puts the pedal to the metal. The actors do a great job as well, with natural performances that impart an existential weariness one can only attribute to being in Michigan. Hoveland, in particular, excels, as her vision of being emotionally fed up is damn near perfect.