One of the best home invasion horror movies to come out in the 21st century is 2008’s The Strangers. At a тιԍнт 85 minutes, the movie expertly encapsulates the horror of intruders in the one place you’re supposed to feel safe. While sequels, like The Strangers: Chapter 1, haven’t brought much new to the table, the original proved simplicity is key for stories focusing on such an isolating incident. And, with a runtime of just under 70 minutes, Invader

seemed queued to offer a similarly swift, to-the-point story, hopefully with plenty of tension too.

To its credit, the movie does offer a compelling setup: a young woman named Ana (Vero Maynez) arrives in Chicago at a bus station to meet her cousin, Camila. However, she’s not picking up her phone, forcing her to trek alone toward her house. What awaits her is impossible to predict, making for some tense moments as the story unfolds. However, that tension is undercut by an underdeveloped narrative that feels like it has something to say about home invasions, but winds up saying nothing at all.

Invader Offers A Bizarre First Impression & Dull Story Setup

There’s Little To Digest Despite An Interesting Opening

At first, it seems like Invader will be a terrifying home invasion movie commenting on the subject. The opening text explains that, according to the FBI, a home invasion happens once every 30 seconds in the US. Following this, Joe Swanberg’s nameless invader begins wrecking a house, laying the groundwork for the rest of the movie. Cutting to Anna, events grow strange. While there’s a darkly oppressive atmosphere complementing the mysterious circumstances, a chance encounter results in a bizarre first impression that follows the movie to the end.

The story setup isn’t anything special, and oftentimes feels dragged out. While Ana’s subтιтles as she makes calls in Spanish denote creativity in the editing, her journey to Camila’s home often feels like padding the runtime. There’s very little of note that happens before the halfway mark; attempts to build tension are weakened by a lack of development for Ana. It’s made harder to watch due to the film’s nauseating shaky-cam close-ups, an intentional filming choice that didn’t mesh with me.

Invader’s Weak Characters Also Dampen The Tension

Maynez’s Strong Performance Can’t Outrun Lackluster Writing

This issue of characters lacking development and reducing tension is prevalent throughout the movie, especially once more terrifying events start unfolding. While some sequences offer horrifying scenarios, some of which feel like homages to the best ’80s horror movies in particular, they’re weakened by an uninteresting protagonist. Maynez offers a strong performance that helps bridge a connection, but Ana herself gets no development outside of being a vessel for a stereotyped horror protagonist. This lack of information about her ends up making it hard to care when the horror unfolds, carried only by Maynez’s talent.

As the film’s main events unfold, the writing also slowly starts to sink, drowning in predictable horror tropes. This itself isn’t a negative, but when the film doesn’t offer even a droplet of difference in its narrative compared to better home invasion films, it makes the finale feel unearned. Couple this with a puzzling third act, and Invader feels like a jumble of ideas that needed more time and organization to provide stronger engagement and purpose to its story. It’s disappointing, especially when there are plenty of intense sequences throughout, which unfortunately only work in a vacuum.

Even though Invader presents some interesting ideas and even a few tense scenes, the movie fails to capture much interest beyond its initial premise. A strong performance from its lead actor is unable to save its shoddy storytelling and weak character writing, even though the pieces for a more memorable, poignant film are all there. This home invasion movie desperately needed more time to flesh out its premise and characters, instead of feeling like a 68-minute skeleton for a much better, and longer, horror movie.