It’s easy to roll your eyes at another found footage movie, but something feels different about THE DEVIL’S DOORWAY. Set in 1960 Ireland in Magdalene Laundries – a place for women, prostitutes, orphans, unmarried pregnant women, and the mentally disturbed – two priests visit to investigate a miracle. In reality, the Magdalene Laundries exist.

The priests, armed with a 16-millimeter film camera, head to the remote Catholic asylum to document a statue of the Virgin Mary weeping blood. However, the priests find sadistic nuns, satanism, and demonic possessions. On its face, that seems pretty ordinary, but the filmmaker’s style of filming is what sells the scares.

The grainy, 16-mm film, and awkward aspect ratio, combined with hallowed audio reminiscent of the period, make the trailer, at least, unsettling. Taking a different approach to a tired sub-genre can elevate a movie.

THE DEVIL’S DOORWAY is directed by Aislinn Clarke, the first woman to direct a horror film in Northern Ireland. It’s written by Clarke, Martin Brennan, and Michael B. Jackson. The movie stars Lalor Roddy, Ciaran Flynn, Helena Bereen, and Lauren Coe.

THE DEVIL’S DOORWAY hits select theaters, VOD, and digital platforms in the U.S, July 13. There will be a screening of the movie on June 22 at Cinepocalypse in Chicago.

Plot 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.