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Intervention

Intervention, which ran for 13 seasons on A&E before getting cancelled last year, serves the obvious inspiration for Step Inside Recovery, the fictional reality show at the center of IFC Midnight’s terrifying new film, Inner Demons (out today in theaters and on VOD). Director Seth Grossman, whose pre-feature film resume includes some time spent as a field producer on Intervention, is uniquely qualified to tell this specific tale of a reality shoot gone horribly wrong, a movie that shines a light on both the horror of addiction and the horrible people charged with turning it into entertainment.

The “found footage” film stars newcomer Lara Vosburgh, who looks like a cross between Kendall Jenner and a goth Lana Del Rey, as Carson, a teenager who mysteriously devolves from a straight-A Catholic school student to heroin addict in a disturbingly short period of time. She’s the unwitting star of an episode of the aforementioned Step Inside Recovery, tricked by her parents and a three-person crew of reality show producers into believing that she’s appearing in an educational film about drug addiction. Of course, as anyone who has seen Intervention will attest, the emotional apex of the episode occurs as soon as Carson figures out what’s really going on when a Jeff VanVonderen-esque figure surprises her after school one day, forcing her to choose between rehab and parental abandonment.

The twist of Inner Demons, as you might guess from its title, is that drug addiction and the subsequent period of withdrawal are actually the least of Carson’s concerns. The third act of the film provides the most traditional scares (and there are plenty of them), but what makes this movie more than your standard demonic possession flick are the first two acts. It’s a fascinating exploration of the behind-the-scenes machinations that go into producing an episode of reality television, as well as the ethical issues that arise when one gets paid to turn someone else’s pain and suffering into entertainment (see: “I’m walking on sunshine!”).

In particular, there is one scene near the end of the first act of the film that stands out. It’s the actual “intervention” moment of the film, in which Carson’s family, friends and a jet-lagged professional intervention expert confront her in the family’s living room. There are tears, of course, but things turn physical when Carson attacks one of her best friends. After things settle down, one of the producers goes out into the street to report back to the network about how things are going.

“Oh, it was great,” the segment producer excitedly says. “[Carson] freaked out. She attacked her friend and tried to shove her letter down her friend’s throat. And she thinks she’s possessed! You got your promo footage today.”

This scene, and the movie in general, forces people like me who gleefully binged shows like Intervention to confront the reality behind the “reality.” It’s not exactly a brand new revelation that producers poke and prod their on-camera subjects to get the kinds of memorable moments that keep shows on the air, but the gleeful celebration that follows when this producer got her “promo footage” at the expense of others feels like an authentic moment cribbed from Grossman’s own life. The director does not present this moment in a preachy manner; rather, he just lets it unfold while simultaneously allowing the audience to identify with the newest Step Inside Recovery crew members (who is noticeably aghast at this victory dance and, much to his detriment, sympathetic to Carson’s ills).

Inner Demons succeeds as both a
horror movie—the scene in which Carson unwittingly drinks holy water during a group meeting at rehab is especially well-done—and as a commentary on the trainwreck appeal of shows like Intervention and Celebrity Rehab. And seeing as how it’s October, aka Scream and Stream month here at Decider, we can’t think of a better use of your VOD dollar this weekend.

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