Based on the novel: The Intruders by Michael Marshall
Executive Producer: Glen Morgan
Starring: Sonya Salomaa, John Simm, Daryl Shuttleworth
Fans of Marshall's crime novel "The Intruders" will easily be able to follow the pilot that kicks off a series of convoluted events. The story deals with a cult devoted to immortality by using the bodies of other people. Unfortunately, the pilot struggles with too many mini arcs at once, which makes it hard to get emotionally invested in the characters.
Background
Conventional beginning: We witness several murders and get introduced to the character Jack Whalen (John Simm) and his wife Amy (Mira Sorvino), lawyer Gary Fisher (Shamier Anderson), a young girl named Madison (Millie Bobby Brown), and a ruthless killer called Evan Shepherd (Alessandro Juliani). Much of the story is following the fractured yet somehow close relationship between Jack and Amy who eventually goes missing.
A parallel is drawn to Madison's disturbing encounter with Evan Shepherd and the viewer hardly gets any useful information on the different fractions and people involved with the whole immortality/body snatching business.
Tone
Several scenes get cut abruptly and you get thrown right into another story before returning back to what happened before. However, it can't be said that Intruders is easy to digest. For someone like me who absolutely detests horror movies involving children acting like zombies (Village of the Damned -1960), it was certainly tough to follow Madison's emotional breakdown, her confusion and sudden changes in behavior. You'll get plenty of gore as well and the show doesn't shy away from explicit scenes that can potentially be triggering. Massive warning for Suicide depiction!
Problems
As mentioned above, the lack of believable connections between the stories and the characters makes it hard to figure out what is going on. Jack and Madison's scenes allowed us to empathize with them more strongly, while Amy acts like a walking corpse intended to creep us out. It's problematic considering the fact we are supposed to care about her disappearance. Shepherd simply gives the viewer violent urges and not much more.
For fans of the novel it's certainly worth to take a closer look, but this is the kind of show that either gets you hooked right away or simply leaves you indifferent to whatever is happening.
Intruders premieres tonight, August 23rd at 10/9c on BBC America.
