George’s Intervention from Cat Scare Films

George’s Intervention is an upcoming independent zombie film. George’s Intervention is also a horror comedy. I was finished with both zombie films and horror comedies. And then I watched George’s Intervention.

George’s Intervention tells a story in the post apocalyptic zombie earth. The human race has survived and zombies are pretty much an every day part of life. The film opens with a slide show put out by the government to educate children about the origin and nature of zombies. We learn, in this first part of this PSA, that zombies are capable of working, raising families, and continuing to pretty much function as normal people. Well.. one kind of zombie, the other dangerous kind of zombie we’ll learn more about in the second part of the PSA … or in our case much later in the film. The slide show alone had me hooked. It was funny, incredibly well done, and exactly what you’d expect the government to turn out for the education of kindergarten children. The film then opens with four friends — Ben, Sarah, Francine, and Steve gathering with interventionist Barbra to plan an intervention for their friend George who is a zombie with a particularly nasty addiction. George, you see, eats human flesh which is greatly frowned upon as its immoral, wrong, and particularly unhealthy as raw meat is not good for anyone. And thus is the premise of this wonderful story and I’ll spare any more of the details as to avoid any potential spoilers.

The interventionist Barbra, played by Lynn Lowry (The Crazies, Shivers, Cat People) is incredibly funny. Her character is whimsical and very well written and Lynn Lowry delivers the performance perfectly. George (Carlos Larkin) is the typical addict in denial. This appears to be Carlos Larkin’s first major role in a motion picture and it should not be his last. George is hysterical and Carlos’ ability to pull off every expression and deliver every line of dialog perfectly creates a character that you’ll absolutely fall in love with. The four friends – George’s best friend Ben (Peter Stickles), George’s ex-girlfriend Sarah (Michelle Tomlinson) and her boyfriend Steve (Eric Dean), and George’s sister, Francine (Shannon Hodson) are the perfect mix of characters to provide different perspectives on the intervention. Francine is a nurturer and as George’s sister wants what’s best for him, Sarah still cares for George but was just totally unable to deal with George’s addiction, Steve doesn’t give a damn about George and is only there for Sarah, and of course his best friend Ben just wants the old George he has known for his whole life back. And let me not forget Roger (Vince Cusimano) the the party animal friend who thinks he’s there to provide the fun for this little party. Some other characters are thrown including a pair of Mormon missionaries, a couple of strippers, and a door to door salesman. Each character serves a purpose other than increasing body count and all fit beautifully within the story. And the actors all hit their marks at every turn.

Horror comedy is a difficult sub-genre. It is really hard to deliver a well rounded balance of horror and comedy. Often it comes off very campy and cheesy and frequently is little more than a poor attempt at satire of a particular sub-genre or a film. J.T. and Brad deliver a good horror film with very funny dialog and situations. This is not a parody. It is an incredibly creative and original story. I found myself laughing frequently as the story unfolds. The scenes and the dialog are hilarious. But, there’s still a horror movie to be found here. There are still real flesh eating zombies and a healthy dose of gore and blood. This film is horror comedy done right.

This film has been selected for the Bram Stoker International Film Festival and I suspect it will be an official selection of many film festivals over the next year as it works its way towards distribution. Look for it at a film festival near you and make sure that you see this film. The film is worth the price of admission and when it is released on DVD is worth the price of owning. It really is that good.

Again, I am reminded why I am a fan of independent cinema. While the major studios continue to deliver remakes, re-imaginings, and now even remakes of sequels to remakes, along with incredibly weak and safe PG-13 horror films, there are truly original stories out there being told by incredibly creative and daring filmmakers such as J.T. Seaton.

The trailer and more can be found at https://georgesintervention.com/.

Barbra watching as Ben and Sarah deliver lines from “intervention script” at planning meeting.

George trying to comfort Steve.

Ben and Sarah ready themselves for the final attack.