The acceleration and heating of electrons by an intense laser normally incident on a steep overdense plasma interface is investigated using the particle-in-cell code osiris. Energetic electrons are generated by the laser's electric field in the vacuum region within λ/4 of the surface. Only those electrons which originate within the plasma with a sufficiently large transverse momentum can escape the plasma. This mechanism relies on the standing wave structure created by the incoming and reflected wave and is therefore very different for linear and circularly polarized light.