When I was 26, my Dad decided to sell the house where I lived from infancy through college. I vociferously protested this decision and threatened all sorts of havoc if Dad got rid of the home in which I invested so many memories and emotions.

My Dad made a profit on the sale and offered me a not-insubstantial cut of that money. Said me: “I guess it’s time to move on – can’t live in the same place forever!”

Although my greed helped me cope with this change, in 2019’s The Intruder, no such balm salves the wounds of Charlie Peck (Dennis Quaid), a widowed empty-nester who decides to sell his family’s massive Napa estate. Young couple Scott (Michael Ealy) and Annie Russell (Meagan Good) want to start a family in a quieter surrounding than their San Francisco location, so they purchase the property from Charlie.

Although Charlie claims he will move to Florida to live with his daughter, he finds it hard to say goodbye. Charlie continually pops up at his old home and Scott views these actions more and more like a threat, especially when he learns some potentially unsavory details about Charlie’s past.

Like many modern trailers, the promo for Intruder gives away too much plot information, though I understand why the promotional team does so. With a thriller like this, the audience needs to understand some of the twists in advance or else they won’t bother to come. If the ads don’t paint Charlie as a potential menace, then we don’t seem any dramatic potential.

While I get the need for the film’s promotional material to telegraph surprises, I don’t believe the actual movie needs to do so, and that becomes one of the biggest flaws I find here. Intruder makes Charlie’s psychopathic traits so obvious from the start that we get no room for suspense or mystery.

A story like Intruder works best when it leaves some potential for misunderstanding. In a better-told film, Charlie’s behavior would be open to interpretation and we’d wonder if Scott sees real or imagined menace.

Unfortunately, Intruder lacks any form of subtlety. Rather than paint a broader picture of Charlie’s behavior, it makes sure we see him as a violent nutbag from literally the start, and it never gives him room to grow.

Sure, this allows Intruder to produce a few cheap jump scares it would otherwise lack, but it prevents the movie from the ability to develop a deeper, more unnerving sense of terror. We understand Charlie’s mental concerns from early in the film and must wait impatiently for the characters to catch up with us.

This also forces the characters to behave in fairly incredulous, stupid ways – especially Annie, who seems completely oblivious to Charlie’s threat no matter how aggressively and oddly he acts. Any movie of this sort must force its characters to perform dopey actions to advance the plot, but Intruder goes to an untenable extreme.

All this leaves Intruder as a fairly predictable exercise in the inevitable. It’s the kind of movie where you know what will happen to each character early in the tale, and it doesn’t find creative room to improve on its template.

The Intruder appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a strong presentation.

Overall, sharpness seemed very good. Virtually no softness materialized, so the film appeared accurate and concise.

Jagged edges and moiré effects didn’t mar the presentation, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to appear.

In terms of palette, Intruder went with a fairly teal orientation. A lot of amber/orange appeared as well, and we found splashes of other hues on occasion. Within stylistic choices, the hues seemed well-depicted.

Blacks were dark and dense, and low-light shots gave us good clarity. I felt pleased with this solid transfer.

Similar thoughts greeted the fairly good DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Intruder, as the soundfield mostly delivered a mix heavy on atmosphere. Environmental noises cropped up in the side and rear speakers, and action moments added to the track. Those elements created a nice sense of place and added impact to the material.

Audio quality satisfied. Speech sounded crisp and distinctive, and music appeared robust and full.

Effects were accurate and dynamic, while low-end response showed good warmth and richness. Nothing here dazzled, but the audio merited a “B”.

As we move to extras, we begin with an audio commentary from director Deon Taylor, producer Roxanne Avent, writer David Loughery, and actors Meagan Good and Michael Ealy. All five sit together for this running, screen-specific discussion of story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, music, editing and deleted scenes, and connected domains.

For the most part, this becomes a fairly informative chat. The participants engage in some of the expected happy talk, but led by Taylor, we find enough good material to make the commentary worth a listen.

Seven Deleted/Alternate Scenes fill a total of 11 minutes, 57 seconds. Most of these seem pretty forgettable, and a long one that shows Charlie’s insanity feels more silly than creepy.

Then there’s the “Alternate Ending”, a clip that simply extends the existing finale. I admit it confuses me – maybe others will figure it out better than I did.

With Making a Modern Thriller, we find a 12-minute, 24-second featurette that brings notes from Ealy, Taylor, Loughery, Good, producers Brad Kaplan, Jonathan Schwartz and Mark Burg, co-executive producer Ephraim Salaam, production designer Andrew Neskoromny and actors Dennis Quaid and Joseph Sikora.

“Making” covers the project’s path to the screen, story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, and Taylor’s impact on the production. This isn’t a bad reel but it’s fairly standard semi-promotional stuff.

A Gag Reel spans three minutes, eight seconds. It delivers the usual goofs and giggles, but at least it’s short enough that it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

The disc opens with ads for Brightburn, Searching, Escape Room, Men in Black: International, Slaughterhouse Rulez and Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood. No trailer for Intruder appears here.

If you expect anything original or fresh from The Intruder, abandon hope. A by-the-numbers psycho stalker movie, it lacks creativity or dramatic impact. The Blu-ray brings excellent visuals as well as good audio and a decent array of bonus materials. Formulaic and trite, the film disappoints.