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Intruder

“Prosthetic heads abound in ‘Intruder’, and KNB never met a prosthetic head they didn’t want to squash with a hydraulic press or run through a buzz saw. The body count may be low, but every kill practically glistens with gooey KNB love. Along with the outrageous violence, the film sports a cast that includes the Raimi boys and a don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it Bruce Campbell cameo. It’s certainly no horror classic, but for stalwart gorehounds, ‘Intruder’ is sweet, sweet manna.”

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Once a burgeoning young horror fan stumbles across the lesser-known genre films of the early ‘80s, discovering hidden treasures like The Burning and Hell Night, he will be inevitably drawn to the shitty slasher fringe dwellers of the era. 1981’s The Prowler serves as an easy example. It’s a lackluster slasher flick about an undead soldier who sneaks around a graduation dance, bayoneting obnoxious college kids. I realize that description makes it sound sorta appealing, but as far as horror films go, it’s suspense-free, and even boring at times. Still, The Prowler is worth watching for one reason, and one reason only––the preternatural make-up skills of a young Tom Savini. Sure the movie blows, but predictably, the kill scenes totally rock. Does that immediately qualify The Prowler as mandatory viewing? Of course not: the casual horror fan need not apply. But Savini completists are happy to tag the sign-up sheet.

Similarly, 1989’s Intruder completely sucks ass as a movie. The acting, dialogue, and plotting are unbelievably lame. Writer/director Scott Spiegel (a longtime friend of Sam Raimi who’s credited with writing Evil Dead 2) attempts maximum creativity when staging his scenes and the unfortunate result is film school amateur hour. His shot selection is frequently straight-up silly, with absurd perspective shots serving as the apparent core of his directorial skill set. But this shitty-ass little film has an ace up its sleeve––some early, jaw-dropping work from KNB, the unparalleled king of contemporary make-up effects.

Although Paramount scrubbed out all of the gore prior to its R-rated VHS release, a 2005 DVD reissue reinstated KNB’s beautiful latex carnage (and the recent Blu Ray from Synapse really seals the deal). The plot is frustratingly stupid: a handful of employees closing down a grocery store for the night are whacked one-by-one by an unknown killer. There’s an early red herring in the form of a lurking ex-boyfriend of one of the cashiers, but come on, any audience worth their weight in peanuts can see right through that shit. But obviously, that’s not the draw here. It’s all about KNB and their rubbery, blood-spraying goodness.

Prosthetic heads abound in Intruder, and KNB never met a prosthetic head they didn’t want to squash with a hydraulic press or run through a buzz saw. The body count may be low, but every kill practically glistens with gooey KNB love. Along with the outrageous violence, the film sports a cast that includes the Raimi boys and a don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it Bruce Campbell cameo. It’s certainly no horror classic, but for stalwart gorehounds, Intruder is sweet, sweet manna.

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‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ Adds “Chucky” Actor Teo Briones and More to Lead Cast

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Chucky Actor Teo Briones
Pictured: Teo Briones in "Chucky" Season Two

The Final Destination franchise is returning to life with Final Destination: Bloodlines. With filming now underway, THR reports that three actors have joined the lead cast, including “Chucky” actor Teo Briones.

Brec Bassinger (“Stargirl”) and Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game) join Teo Briones, who played Junior Wheeler in season two of “Chucky,” as the leads in the sixth installment of the horror franchise.

Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (Freaks) are directing the fresh installment that also includes Richard Harmon (“The 100”, Grave Encounters 2), Anna Lore, Owen Patrick Joyner, Max Lloyd-Jones (The Book Of Boba Fett), Rya Kihlstedt (Obi Wan Kenobi), and Tinpo Lee (The Manor) among the cast.

Production is now underway in Vancouver.

What can we expect from the upcoming Final Destination 6? Speaking with Collider, franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick offered up an intriguing (and mysterious) tease last year.

“This film dives into the film in such a unique way that it attacks it from a different angle so you don’t feel like, ‘Oh, there’s an amazing setup and then there’s gonna be one wrinkle that can potentially save you all that you have to kind of make a moral choice about or do to solve it.’ There’s an expansion of the universe that – I’m being so careful,” Reddick teased.

Reddick continued, “It kind of unearths a whole deep layer to the story that kind of, yes, makes it really, really interesting.”

Final Destination: Bloodlines is written by Lori Evans Taylor (“Wicked Wicked Games”) and Guy Busick (Scream), with Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) producing.

Producers on the new movie for New Line Cinema also include Dianne McGunigle (Cop Car) as well as Final Destination producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor.

This will be the sixth installment in the hit franchise, and the first in over ten years. Each film centers on “Death” hunting down young friends who survive a mass casualty event.

The latest entry is expected in 2025, coinciding with the original film’s 25th anniversary.

 

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