MovieChat Forums > Intruders (2011) Discussion > good movie BUT one thing I dont understa...

good movie BUT one thing I dont understand please help me (Spoilers)

posted 12 years ago by orioles8-1
8 replies | jump to latest

I get that everything came down to Clive Owen's character it was all about him, his father trying to steal him away and that during the struggle the father dies, So he writes about him and the trauma causes him to call his father hollowface whether or not he realizes it's his father at the time I dont know but this personal trauma is his. This brings up my next question how does this trauma transfer to his daughter? Is it because his father's ghost or essence was enclosed in the story due to the cover up? if so is the ghost or whatever trying to get the daughter because the truth was never told? I feel as though this is one of those films that can have numerous interpretations but in case I'm wrong and i missed something could someone help me out to get a clearer idea of what happened at the end? I would greatly appreciate the in-put

[–] dmfaust 12 years ago

My belief is that Clive Owen's character's trauma literally created a nightmare that manifested in reality. Hiding the story in the tree was his way of dealing with it, in essence banishing the nightmare. When the girl found the story the nightmare, which had become more than just a nightmare, was invoked by her. I don't think it was a literal ghost, but more along the lines of his own psychic projection. The scene talking about the psychosis of the shared delusion also played into this, implying that the transferance only occured because of the emotional connection between father and daughter. (Ie: If a total stranger had found the story, nothing would have happened.)

It is heavily based on the concept that if we believe something is real it becomes real. Sort of like Tinkerbell but with stealing faces.

[–] BadlandZ 12 years ago

I to found the whole story full of potential plot holes that were (to my surprise) completely filled in at the end (skyscraper guy falling, dad falling, etc.) But I was impressed how the writer filled in all the things you were scratching you're head about, exempt... the grandfather going after the grand daughter (John Farrow/Clive Owen's father going after John Farrow daughter). So I looked up the plot, read the forum, and did find this an OK answer:

My belief is that Clive Owen's character's trauma literally created a nightmare that manifested in reality. Hiding the story in the tree was his way of dealing with it, in essence banishing the nightmare. When the girl found the story the nightmare, which had become more than just a nightmare, was invoked by her. I don't think it was a literal ghost, but more along the lines of his own psychic projection.

That was reasonable, and works with the "ghost" going up in flames at the end when they work it out. Mostly.

The key to me was to put it on this shared genetic psychosis thing, a predisposition to believe in these things, which I went "yea, that's just as likely to be an explanation for a ghost as it is a psychosis, because there is no rational basis for either, it's just a theory." But there was the letter the girl found, that coupled with the same set of fears (delusional genetic psychosis) could, by a LEAP of imagination lead to them having the shared delusions. Sure. That all still works with the above explanation.

The problem for me came from the "deadly" part. Sectioned (committed to an institution) sure, maybe, but killed? Suddenly, the dilution had the power to KILL the little girl? There was no explanation for the grandfather having the power to kill the granddaughter. And the fact that it was all explained by a shared tendency to have delusions brought it back to "reality" and was ok, but then this "shared genetic fear" and "letter brought about same plot line for the dream they had, heightened by the fear" didn't come even CLOSE to the level of making the fear turn DEADLY. That's the part that was "over the top" and ruined it for me, going from good mystery drama to "over the top Nightmare on Elm Street" (you can die in your dreams) to me.

Did I miss a part where they justify how it almost killed the girl? Or am I to except that bad dreams, a shared letter that gives the same fear to someone new, and a genetic predisposition to being "scared" add up to "deadly?"

The only thing that would have explained that to me would be if John Farrow/Clive Owen shared his fathers tendencies also, and HE was the one who almost killed his daughter without knowing he did it?!? But the last scenes were him RESCUING her, but talking to her? Did I go to take a leak or something and miss where he was wrestling with himself mentally, and preventing himself from killing the girl?

Plus, what was the deal with the teddy bear? They made this HUGE deal of the 50 year old antique teddy bear given to her on her birthday, and it had nothing to do with anything.

[–] alexarkin 12 years ago

I see it a little differently: as a boy Clive Owen had the trauma of his father intruding in his home, trying to kidnap him, and dying from the fall off the scaffold. He was already into monster/ghost stories, so in order to deal with the ordeal he created the hollowman story and hid it in the tree to rid himself of that fear.
While his daughter stumbles upon his story, it's mostly the fall of his co-worker that triggers the trauma back to the surface, and because of his strong bond with his daughter, they both slip into a shared nightmare. None of it is real, but it certainly feels that way to both of them, which is why Clive Owen has to talk his daughter out of it, since she's slipped further, while he has made light of what really happened thanks to his mom.
It also touches upon passage into adulthood, as Clive Owen was forced to grow up quickly because of what happened that frightful night, and what is happening to his daughter as she is becoming a young woman, while he still sees her as a little girl.
I really enjoyed this one. A well executed story about the power of imagination, monsters under the bed, and facing your fears.

[–] mystee_reyne 12 years ago

This is my understanding of the film also. But, does this mean that Clive Owen's mother and his younger self were also having a shared nightmare/hallucination also? Remember when they were in the church with the young priest, both the mother and son saw a manifestation of Hollowman.

[–] kaysild 11 years ago

The mother was terrified of the father taking her son, I felt that she was frightened afterwards probably due to her own traumatic experience of seeing him fall and purposely letting it happen. She can't escape it kind of thing, and the boy is having recurring nightmares of the event that she keeps lying and saying was a dream but she knows it really happend and therefore has Even more guilt.

[–] poeddog 12 years ago

This was explained by the psychiatrist as"Foile a deux" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folie_à_deux )
Which is why they share the same hallucination.

Some days you eat the bar,some days the bar eats you
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=11738345

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] paleheartedmanikin 12 years ago

I agree with the majority here. There never was a ghost. The child psychologist was right. Clive Owen and his daughter were both hallucinating. His daughter finds his writing. The stories frighten her enough to experience nightmares, but she doesn't truly experience them until her father gets involved and imagines the same creature from his childhood in her bedroom. The both share a hallucination as the psychologist suggested, brought on by the father's unresolved conflicts from when he was a child.