You Can’t Run From What You Don’t See

Read Time:5 Minute, 35 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Invader
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Genre: Horror
Year Released: 2024, 2025
Runtime: 1h 10m
Director(s): Mickey Keating
Writer(s): Mickey Keating
Cast: Vero Maynez, Colin Huerta, Ruby Vallejo, Joe Swanberg, Sanjay Choudrey
Where To Watch: available streaming March 25, 2025

RAVING REVIEW: It doesn’t take long before everything in this grim horror experience starts to feel a little off—and not in the ways most viewers might expect. INVADER chooses confrontation over subtlety from its opening frames, throwing you headfirst into a sensory onslaught with little regard for conventional structure. It’s unnerving, claustrophobic, and relentlessly committed to chaos. There’s something admirable in how confidently it sticks to its vision, even when that vision occasionally trips over itself.

Rather than build toward tension with setup or character insight, INVADER throws the audience straight into destruction. We see a stranger—silent, nameless, brimming with rage—wreaking havoc inside a home. Joe Swanberg is less of a man and more of a force, stomping, smashing, and wrecking spaces without ever taking anything of value. His presence feels like an eruption of hate without interest in justification. The camera is held uncomfortably close and constantly shuddering, capturing it all like an intruder itself—shaky, invasive, and impossible to settle into. Its visual discomfort is used as a narrative tone, a bold move for any film genre.

The emotional anchor is Ana, portrayed with restraint by Vero Maynez. She arrives in Chicago expecting a warm reception and instead finds silence, confusion, and a city that seems designed to ignore her. The setting quickly becomes as much of an antagonist as the invader himself: empty streets, late-night isolation, and people looking through or viewing her with suspicion. It’s a subtle but powerful setup that lets INVADER slide into social commentary without needing to scream it aloud—though rest assured, plenty of other things are screaming.

The camera never gives Ana—or the viewer—room to breathe. Her walk through suburbia isn’t just long; it’s soul-draining. The usual genre markers—mysterious figures, ominous warnings, a ticking clock—are swapped for missed calls, barriers, and emotional exhaustion. You understand that Ana’s journey isn’t about finding someone or solving a mystery. It’s about surviving in a space that doesn’t seem to want her in it. Keating uses these moments to lean into the mood more than momentum, and while that occasionally makes the pace feel stretched, it adds to the simmering discomfort.

As for Carlo, the one character who offers her real support, his introduction is refreshingly low-key. Colin Huerta plays him with grounded sincerity, and their connection feels authentic without veering into cliches. Their scenes offer rare quiet moments, giving the film a necessary counterbalance to its frenzied tone. Their alliance doesn’t come with grand declarations or plot-turning dialogue—it’s simply one decent human recognizing another. In an aggressively anxious movie, that moment of calm feels borderline heroic.

INVADER thrives on making its audience squirm. The sound design is especially brutal, layering metal growls, distorted ambient tones, and bursts of chaos that never satisfy you with release. The abrasive audio landscape syncs with the cinematography, which seems more interested in psychological breakdown than plot progression. Together, they make the film feel like an open wound (for better or worse.)

But as gripping as it can be, style can only carry so much. That’s where INVADER occasionally stumbles. Its themes—immigration, perception, social exclusion—hover near the surface but rarely get the full attention they deserve. Sometimes, the film seems unsure whether to commit to or fully use those ideas as texture. As a result, while powerful in concept, some of the commentary feels underdeveloped in execution.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the film’s final act. The chaos and the Invader slip further into disturbing visual territory. It’s audacious but not always effective. At one point, the character adopts a bizarre appearance, creating a jarring tonal shift that might confuse more than provoke. Keating seems to throw everything he has into the last 15 minutes—some of it sticks, but some feels like a shock for shock’s sake.

SPOILERISH BELOW:
The ending is unlikely to satisfy fans of traditional structure. There’s no clear resolution, big twist, or catharsis—it's just more disarray. This may feel like the only logical conclusion for those tuned into the film’s emotional structure. But for anyone expecting a hint of narrative payoff, the credit roll might be a frustration rather than a revelation.

That’s the gamble INVADER makes. It refuses to cater to expectations or soften its edges. The result is a horror film that may alienate as many viewers as it grabs. But it knows what it’s doing. It’s not interested in jump scares or easy metaphors. It wants to rattle you—visually, acoustically, thematically. Whether that lands as insightful or overwhelming depends entirely on what you hope to get from the experience.

INVADER sticks with you. It’s not the horror that fades when the lights come on. Its anxieties feel eerily contemporary, its protagonist achingly human, and its chaos a little too familiar. It’s not perfect, but it’s never forgettable. And in a genre packed with imitation, something must be said for a movie that carves its own jagged, disorienting path.

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[photo courtesy of DOPPELGANGER RELEASING]

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