While Scott and Annie are surveying a Napa Valley property they are interested in, they notice a deer that is frolicking in the woods near them. Then out of nowhere, a man with a rifle barges past them and kills it. Scott and Annie Howard move into their new house in Napa Valley, but its previous owner, deer killer Charlie Peck, becomes obsessed with keeping an eye on the couple. Though Scott is annoyed, Annie feels sorry for him as he had told them his wife died of cancer and that he will soon be moving to Floridato live with his daughter. Scott and Annie have their friend Mike and his wife over for dinner. Mike goes outside for a smoke and senses he is being watched. He throws his cigarette on the ground. The next morning when Mike and his wife are leaving, Mike notices a cigarette burn on the seat of his luxury car that wasn't there previously. Charlie continues to show up unannounced, mowing the lawn and berating workers installing a security system. Mike suspects Charlie and insists that Scott and Annie are being watched. Scott and Annie are unconvinced, so Mike persuades Scott to accompany him behind the house, where they see an unknown vehicle that drives away. Tensions rise between Scott and Annie due to Scott's coldness toward Charlie, and when Annie discovers that Scott met some clients at a bar,it is revealed that before marrying Annie, he had cheated on her with a client at a bar. At the bar, one of the clients kisses Scott, and he realizes that Annie was right to be worried. He returns home immediately but has an argument with Annie. They reconcile after they both wake in the middle of the night from a noise, and have sex on the floor, unaware Charlie is watching. A neighbor reveals to Scott that Charlie's wife killed herself with one of Charlie's shotguns. Scott asks Mike to investigate him. But Charlie has developed an obsession with Annie and begins visiting the home when Scott is gone. One morning, while Scott is out jogging, a truck runs into him from behind, this turns out to be Charlie. While in the hospital, Scott calls Mike to come and see him,when Mike turns up, Scott explains to Mike that Charlie had lived with his wife Ellen and daughter Cassidy, but was deeply in debt and forced to sell the house. Charlie shows up at the house, and Annie invites him inside. Mike goes to check on her and is confronted by Charlie, who declares that he has a chance to get back all that he lost and must get rid of Scott. Charlie kills Mike with an axe. Scott contacts Cassidy, who has changed her name but she hangs up when Scott mentions the house she grew up in. A while later, when Scott is driving home, Cassidy rings back and explains that Charlie killed his wife after she threatened to divorce him and take the house, and she now lives as far away from Charlie as she could get, and if he were ever to show up, she would kill him. Annie discovers Charlie's underground cellar connected to the house, where he has been living and has stored Mike's body. Scott returns home to find Charlie trying to rape Annie, but they fight back and overpower him before seizing his gun with a blow to the head by a baseball bat. Scott says to Annie "Make the call, just make the call." Annie calls the police and tells them, "My husband has just shot an intruder." Charlie screams "You don't deserve Foxglove!" as a gunshot is heard as the screen goes black.
In May 2018, Ealy, Good and Quaid all signed onto the project. It was then announced that the worldwide distribution rights had been acquired by Screen Gems at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, after production had been completed under the title Motivated Seller.
Release
The Intruder was released in the United States on May 3, 2019. It was previously set for an April 26, 2019 release, but was pushed back a week to separate from . The first trailer for the film was released on November 19, 2018.
Reception
Box office
The Intruder grossed $35.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $36.4 million, against a production budget of around $8 million. In the United States and Canada, The Intruder was released alongside Long Shot and UglyDolls, and was projected to gross $9–16 million from 2,222 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $3.9 million on its first day, including $865,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $11 million, finishing second, behind holdover . The film grossed $6.6 million in its second weekend, finishing in fourth.
Critical response
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 33% based on 97 reviews, with an average rating of 4.26/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Intruder might appeal to fans of shout-at-the-screen cinema, but this thriller's ludicrous plot robs it of suspense – and undermines Dennis Quaid's suitably over-the-top performance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 39 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars and a 44% "definite recommend."
