Intruders (1992)

Dan Curtis, executive producer of the successful television production, 'Dark Shadows' directs this T.V. miniseries which is probably the best of the films that were made about the real-life testimonials dealing with the occurrences of alien abductions that have swept the nation's curiosities and astonishment.Richard Crenna is a well-respected psychologist who encounters new patient, Daphne Ashbrook, who is concerned with incidents dealing with missing time, extreme anxiety, and terrible nightmares about sinister prowlers. When hypnotic sessions reveal visions of small beings with large black eyes and hideous experimental procedures, Crenna embarks on a journey of a collective phenomena and self-discovery that endangers his career as well as his professional relationships.A multitude of research on the topic went into this excellent study of a well-documented peculiarity which has puzzled and contradicted our beliefs and customs for centuries. Curtis uses every thematic device to create tension and paranoia and a tremendously scary tone that is seldom found in television movies. The cast is excellent. Mare Winningham and Daphne Ashbrook are extremely convincing as the sympathetic abductees, and it's engrossing to see Crenna's transition from a hard-headed skeptic to the seeker of ultimate truth, regardless of his professional credulity, and Stephan Berkoff is shear perfection as an eccentric ufologist. Fans of this intriguing genre will consider this a prolific film, rising above the normal Hollywood depictions of extraterrestrial fantasy and lore into a world of frightening reality, spiritual enlightenment, and governmental suspicions. Skeptics and realists may not be convinced, but won't help but to analyze and interpret the cold facts whether or not these people are victims of schizophrenic delusion. I was 16 years old when I saw this for the first time, and was scared out of my wits as a result. (especially the scenes of the hybrid human/aliens and the dream sequences) It's a prime example of how melancholic emotion and an ambient feel can make all the difference in a horror film. The effective Dan Curtis also directed the recommended thriller, 'Trilogy of Terror'. Watch with an open mind and the lights off, and you just might acquaint with the tag-line "You Will Believe".

This is by far the scariest and most realistic alien movie ever. This is the only alien movie to deal with aliens implanting a fetus in a human and showing hybrid alien and humans. This movie is based on the book "Intruders" in which Budd Hopkins uses hypnosis to reveal the blocked memories of alien abduction. You must see this movie.

Intruders, an over-long made for television movie, ranks as my third favorite film made on the topic of ufo's and alien abduction. Only Communion and The Interrupted Journey ranks ahead of it.Richard Crenna, the film's protagonist, is a therapist who must deal with the reality of ufo's when one of his patients thrusts an "alien abduction" account onto his plate. His initial reaction is to brush her off as a nutcase. Soon, when other people with similar accounts journey into his life, he begins to take a serious look at the possibility of ufo's actually abducting people.His investigation begins to uncover a certain amount of evidence and a government involvement(pre-X-Files) that forces him to take a 180 degree turn in his feelings about the subject.Richard Crenna, as pointed out by another commenter, does seem to be a composite of artist and author Budd Hopkins and Harvard professor John Mack. Crenna is very good in his role. I especially enjoyed watching his characters transition from non-believer into believer. The film is frightening in its depictions of abductions and encounters with aliens. There are several sequences featuring abductions and several scenes on board ufo's. Where Fire In The Sky seemed to tease the audience, Intruders wants to bombard it.Very, very frightening! A must see!

This is one of the best treatments of this subject available, far more accurately reflecting its (non-fiction) source material than "Communion," for example, or "Fire in the Sky." The way in which Crenna's character (probably a composite of Budd Hopkins and the late Dr. John Mack) slowly comes to believe his terrified and bewildered "patients," in spite of a healthy skepticism, is quite persuasive. The human dramas associated with witness reports are the focus here (as they are in the excellent "The UFO Incident"), and the visual effects, though gasp-producing, take care not to distort those reports. All the performances are first-rate. One of the three writers, incidentally,Tracey Tormé--the son of the later singer-songwriter, Mel Tormé--is also one of the writers of "Fire in the Sky."