3 Stars

What a tangled web of deceit. The Intruder, currently streaming on Acorn, a British series (not intending a second), is an interesting look into human stupidity of what not to do when you screw it up.

Meet Sam and Rebecca Hickey, living the dream in their gorgeous home on the rocky coast of England. As you will soon learn, the story starts out with a bang. Dinner with friends. Two teens in the dark, waiting for the lights to go out and the occupants to go to bed before they “intrude” into the couple’s home to steal what they can.

However, not all teenage heists go as planned. The two gain entrance, but Sam Hickey is still up working. After one breaks in through a window and lets the other inside, they start grabbing laptops and other carry as you go goodies to steal. Sam hears a noise, investigates, and finds one youth and starts chasing him through the house. Unbeknownst to him, the other has a few of his goods and slips out the door he came into, while Sam is on the rampage to stop the other.

As the intruder starts to crawl through the window he gained entrance with, Sam arrives with knife in hand and stabs the kid in the back. When the teen dies, Sam freaks out and wants to re-stage the scene to make it look like the teen attacked him and not the other way around. As a result, he drags his wife and Amanda (their other crazy guest) into his deceitful plot, only to find out eventually it unravels to the detriment of them all.

Rebecca Hickey, played by the talented Elaine Cassidy, is a survivor. As Sam’s wife, and who you think is the rational one among the three ready to do the right thing, brings a surprising twist to the story. I won’t spoil the outcome, enough to say that morphing into a cold-blooded killer, when her husband in a state of panic stabs another, is enough to turn your blood cold.

Does she get away with murder to preserve herself and survive at any cost? Well, you will have to watch the craziness yourself. Don’t expect any justice in this story.