INTRUDERS
(15, 100 mins)
Three stars
Starring Clive Owen, Ella Purnell, Pilar Lopez de Ayala, Izan Corchero, Carice van Houten, Daniel Bruhl, Kerry Fox, Mark Wingett. Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.

Primal fears take root deep in our psyche and occasionally percolate to the surface years after we have grown up.

Few of these irrational thoughts are more potent than nightmarish images of monsters lurking in the dark.

Screenwriters Nicolas Casariego and Jaime Marques tap into this universal fear in Intruders, an efficient horror thriller about two children, worlds apart, who are haunted by the same gnarly-fingered bogeyman that rips off the faces of unsuspecting youngsters as they sleep.

Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo cranks up the tension in the chilling opening frames, set in a Madrid apartment block.

A seven-year-old Spanish boy called Juan (Corchero) tells his mother Luisa (Lopez de Ayala) a ghost story about a disfigured creature called Hollowface.

Luisa tucks the boy up for the night, leaving a window ajar so the family cat, Meow, can return home.

Sure enough, Juan is woken by the pet’s cries and he climbs on to scaffolding outside of his bedroom window to be greeted by the hideous sight of Hollowface clambering up.

Hundreds of miles away on the outskirts of London, 12-year-old Mia (Purnell) discovers a story lodged in a tree and recites the text to her class, giving birth to the same demon.

Mia’s father John (Clive Owen) reassures his little girl, but still she senses Hollowface hiding in her wardrobe.

As both children’s mental condition deteriorates, Luisa turns to local priest Father Antonio (Bruhl) for salvation, while John hopes psychiatrist Dr Rachel (Fox) will vanquish the creature that stalks Mia.

Intruders gets under our skin. Scenes involving the two children are particularly unnerving.

Performances are solid if unremarkable, teetering on the brink of unintentional hilarity as the screenwriters attempt to glue together the two plot strands.