The newest entry in the fairly new genre of “black thrillers,” The Intruder, starring Michael Ealy, Meagan Good and Dennis Quaid, tells the story of a couple, Scott (Ealy) and Annie (Good) Russell, who have bought a house in the countryside from a man named Charlie (Quaid).

Everything starts out normal, until Charlie, who is still obviously unwilling to give up the house, starts showing up at random and inappropriate times. This continues and escalates throughout the movie, until Charlie ends up getting very hostile with Scott and Annie and starts attacking them.

The Intruder definitely has its moments. Quaid delivers the character and persona Charlie very well. The scene where he is running after Annie to attack her can really send chills down people’s spines. However, at the end of the day, it is just a mediocre thriller that rides off its jumpscares for a kind of shock-factor effect, which due to the mediocre cinematography, are adequate at best. It’s also easy to note that anyone can foresee the multiple twists and surprises in the movie.

The movie isn’t all that bad. It just got lost in the shadow of big names that came out next to it like Pet Semetary and Avengers: Endgame. The actors do a good job to bring a decent thriller/mystery to us.

The film is, undeniably, creepy and unsettling, especially with Dennis Quaid’s character, Charlie. It just falls short of bringing anything new or interesting to the table where films like Endgame are still so culturally and emotionally impacting weeks after its release.