Found footage is a played out mode of storytelling, but if this teaser for The Devil's Doorway is any indication, it looks like director Aislinn Clarke found a new way to approach the form, as it's a period piece that transports us back to a secretive Irish convent during the '60s where some rather unsettling events are transpiring.
Take a look:
I watched that spot in a dark room and was immediately looking over my shoulder. The production and sound design both look and sound top notch, which is not something you can normally say about these types of chillers.
IFC Films' official synopsis for the movie makes it sound even more intriguing:
What unholy terrors lurk behind the walls of a secretive Irish convent? Northern Ireland, 1960: Father Thomas Riley (Lalor Roddy) and Father John Thornton (Ciaran Flynn) are dispatched by the Vatican to investigate reports of a miracle—a statue of the Virgin Mary weeping blood—at a remote Catholic asylum for “immoral” women. Armed with 16mm film cameras to record their findings, the priests instead discover a depraved horror show of sadistic nuns, satanism, and demonic possession. Supernatural forces are at work here—but they are not the doing of God. Inspired by the infamous true histories of Magdalene Laundries—in which “fallen women” were held captive by the Irish Catholic Church—this found footage occult shocker is a chilling encounter with unspeakable evil.
Hell yes, I am 100% in. The Devil's Doorway will be screening at Cinepocalypse at the Music Box Theater in Chicago on June 22. Then it rolls out on VOD July 13th. Expect to hear a little more from us on it then (after my own therapy sessions have concluded).