Intruders

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo treats a molehill of an idea as if it were a mountain of fright in this dual-narrative thriller that loses steam quickly on the way toward a frustrating resolution. A young Spanish boy named Juan (Izán Corchero) with a vivid imagination is terrified by the nocturnal apparition of a ghoulish figure in a hooded parka, whose face, when glimpsed, seems oddly featureless. His mother, Luisa (Pilar López de Ayala), who believes the figure might be a sign of demonic possession, seeks help from a young priest, but his efforts prove useless. Meanwhile, in London, equally inventive young—no joke—Mia Farrow (Ella Purnell) is inspired by a scribbled note she finds in the trunk of a tree on her grandmother's farm to write a story about a bogeyman she calls Hollow Face. In Mia's tale, the creature searches for a boy whose visage he plans to steal. Soon she's being visited by the ghoul at night, and when her father, John (Clive Owen), tries to intervene, he's accused of stoking his daughter's hallucination. The script shuffles back and forth between these two plot threads, with Hollow Face making repeated visits to the children's bedrooms—but nothing much happens during these encounters, and the stories are ultimately linked by an unsatisfying gimmick. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette (20 min.), “An Inside Look” production featurette (8 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a disappointing film.] (F. Swietek)