Trespass
Directed by Joel Schumacher
- thriller
- crime
- drama
The story
Kyle and Sarah Miller have it all: a huge gated house on the water, fancy cars, and the potential for romance in their relationship. He's just back from a business trip and their teen daughter Avery is sneaking out to a party, when four thugs in security uniforms and ski masks stage a home invasion. They want what's in the safe: cash and diamonds. As Kyle stalls them, trying to negotiate for Sarah's freedom, the fault lines in Kyle and Sarah's marriage and the pasts of the four robbers come into play. Is there room here for heroism?
What it’s like
Cold, hard-edged and claustrophobic: most of the film unfolds inside a glossy, modern house of glass, pale stone and polished floors, shot in flat, unforgiving light that turns the rooms into cages. Schumacher favours tight, restless framing and quick cuts when the invaders move through the house, then settles into long, tense held shots during the standoff, with the camera close enough to catch sweat and nervous hands. Sound does much of the work: a low, pulsing electronic score, the hum of the house's machinery, and sudden silences that make every footstep feel like a threat. The vibe is sour and paranoid, with a steady undercurrent of marital resentment and moral rot. It is a brutal, adult thriller: violence is sudden and bloody, there are guns and knives, a cocaine-fuelled edge, and sustained menace throughout, with some sexual tension and talk but no explicit sex. Best for late-night viewing by people who want a tense, grimy home-invasion thriller with sharp performances and a bleak view of wealth, greed and what couples hide from each other.
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