Dir. Kyle Cates (2020)
The Rosebud Killer has survived after the events of the first film, and he’s determined to finish what he started.
CAUTION: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
A clear improvement on the original film, Intrusion: Disconnected has a higher budget, better effects, and a cast and crew that has clearly learned a thing or two since the original. Picking up events almost immediately after where the original left off, we learn that the Rosebud Killer survived, escaping the ambulance by killing the two EMTs who think they need to save his life. Holly (Katie Stewart) has moved on, clearly damaged but struggling to regain her sense of safety. Unfortunately, Raymond Hummel (Lee Haycraft) is determined to make sure that she doesn’t, and he’s back to his old serial killing tricks.
Tiffany Shepis (Victor Crowley, Tales of Halloween) joins the cast as Holly’s therapist in a small role, and almost all of the actors up their game to keep up. Katie Stewart is fantastic and much-improved, and she wasn’t half bad the first time around. Director Kyle Cates, who played Holly’s boyfriend in the first film, has a cameo in the same role in this one, and Lee Haycraft’s Rosebud Killer is more intimidating than ever. The writing has improved as well, another aspect of the first film that was better than expected then and even more impressive now. The score is similar and clearly inspired at times by Halloween, giving the film a haunting and threatening aura. The gore is ratcheted way up, and the kills are much better and more shocking in this one than the original.
The only real downside of the film is that the plot drags a little at times and often feels a bit jumbled. The movie tries to insert the subplot that Holly is crazy, and that she’s the real killer behind the deaths in this film. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense with the reactions of the characters, and you have to completely suspend disbelief and literally everything would have to be in her head for that to be the case. It’s an unnecessary subplot, one that the film would’ve probably been better without. It’s not all that uncommon for movies to take the “sane or not” route, but this one works so much better as a straight slasher movie. The scene with Holly’s family is also a little awkward, and it feels a little less real than the other interactions throughout the film. Stewart does her best to carry the scene, but she’s not getting a lot of support from the other characters.
Other than the parts involving her family, the rest of the film is acted really well, and the kills really are leaps and bounds better than the original. Haycraft’s Hummel is detached from reality, playing a sociopath who isn’t even aware that he doesn’t fit into the rest of society. Stewart is great, treading the line between a damaged victim and an unhinged psychopath herself. Trauma runs deep, and Stewart does an excellent job of letting the audience in on her neuroses. She’s going to need every bit of her damage to survive, however, because the stakes are upped considerably in this sequel that manages to surpass the original.
Who this movie is for: Home invasion film fans, Serial killer buffs, Florists
Bottom line: Better than the original in all ways but pacing, Intrusion: Disconnected is a bloody and brutal exploration of trauma and neuroses. It feels a bit disconnected at times, ironically, but it’s absolutely worth a watch and will pleasantly surprise fans of the original. It’s rare that you get a film sequel that is genuinely better than the original, but this one definitely is, and it’s creepy as hell at times as well. Better acting, writing, and directing, as well as a significantly larger budget, all contribute to creating a film that is at least as good as similar indie films. It is still an indie film, so it’s not going to be for everyone, but for indie fans? Definitely worth a watch.
