After the villain’s quick dispatching of the idyllic family in the opening scene, viewers are left horrified by the discovery that he is holding a child hostage. Despite being limited by the restraints of network television, Intensity manages to make the implications of what viewers don’t see even more scarring than the gore of many more graphic horror movies. Although his plan is unhinged it is also calculated, and at each turn, the villain's improvisation sets the heroine back another step until the satisfyingly gruesome payoff sees her finally win out. Meanwhile, McGinley’s cold killer is less crazed and more creepily deliberate than most screen villains. Parker, who also starred in a Stephen King adaptation with 1922, brings a sense of urgency to the horror unfolding around her and reacts in a manner much more realistic and less frustrating than many horror heroines despite her desperate situation. Much of Intensity’s success comes down to Platoon star John C McGingley’s terrifying turn as the implacable killer as well as Molly Parker’s believably scared, but strong, role as the heroine.

Thus, the miniseries leaves viewers with a lingering sense of unease that Aja’s movie is missing.

What soon follows is a race against time that never lets up and thankfully avoids the ludicrous twist added by Haute Tension’s infamously silly ending.

A massive influence on Alexandre Aja’s critically acclaimed 2003 slasher Haute Tension (to the point that some critics consider the latter movie a rip-off of Intensity), the miniseries opens on a traumatizing scene of the entire family hosting the heroine for Thanksgiving being killed one-by-one by a serial killer.

Intensity by dean koontz