Look, we’re not above enjoying the pleasures of a found footage movie. The genre, once in vogue for what seemed like 20 years, has fallen to the wayside in recent years, and we don’t know if that’s totally a good thing. Sure, shitty filmmakers doing any subgenre poorly and unprofitably will destroy a trend in its tracks, but even the good films amongst them — and there are many — are often lumped in and annihilated with the whole thing. Well, Aislinn Clarke’s ’60s-set The Devil’s Doorway looks to help put the genre back on track, and IFC Midnight dropped a trailer for the film on Tuesday that’s sure to scare the pants off of you.
Take a look:
We’re intrigued by this premise, and we’re doubly intrigued by Clarke’s interrogation of a really shitty practice by the Church that was still regularly in practice until roughly 60 years ago. We’re fans of the aesthetic as well, though it must be a colossal pain in the ass to luck a Bolex camera about a haunted Catholic asylum. Anyways, we’re excited to see more in the coming days, and we pray to God almighty that this is good enough that we can stop talking about Hereditary for more than a minute at a time.
Here’s a synopsis:
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.
The Devil’s Doorway hits theaters and VOD on July 13.
Featured image via IFC Films.