“My mother had a best friend who when she was 13 was taken into a Magdalene Laundry. She has this visceral memory of seeing her friend dragged away in the back of a priest’s car, feeling no one could or would help her.”

This memory is what inspired Aislinn Clarke to write and direct The Devil’s Doorway, a found-footage horror. It focuses on two priests in the 1960s sent by The Vatican to investigate a miraculous event in an Irish home for ‘fallen women.” However, what they discover is a 16-year-old pregnant girl exhibiting signs of demonic possession.

While that premise could lead to accusations of the film being anti-Catholic, Clarke says it’s more complicated than that.

“The film does not denigrate people who have faith. The lead priest in the film (played by Michael Inside’s Lalor Roddy) has his own faith struggles and tries to believe in God and be a good man,” says the writer-director.

According to Clarke, what The Devil’s Doorway takes aim at is power structures.
“It’s not an anti-religious film. It’s more criticising that church/state combination which created an environment where evil could nurture. It wasn’t one element of that. It was all of society. Everyone was aware of these cases. People knew they existed. That was the real horror I wanted to talk about.”

In terms of her influences, Clarke wanted to separate her film from the behemoth of demonic cinema The Exorcist.

“The girl in The Exorcist is very clearly possessed where as in our case, it’s more ambiguous. I think it says something problematic about the girls in this film if you say they are possessed by Satan. You need to handle it a certain way.”

Instead, Clarke found inspiration in documentaries, leading to techniques which break from the traditions of the ‘overdone’ found-footage genre to which The Devil’s Doorway belongs. Gone is the shaky Cloverfield-esque handheld cameras, in is the use of a tripod to keep images still.

“I was actually referencing films by 60s cinema verite directors The Maysles Brothers (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens), as well as documentaries about mental health facilities more than The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. I enjoy those but I wanted this to feel texturally different and fresh.”

While Clarke states she does not believe in ghosts, she does recall a creepy moment in the film’s production: “For the Church where the bleeding statue is towards the start of the film, the house where we shot was formerly Lord Craigavon’s in Belfast. The day after we left, the roof caved in. We were supposed to be shooting there that day.”

Thankfully, the writer-director escaped that Final Destination-esque accident and is moving onto more projects. She teases some details about her upcoming movie which will be produced by Dublin’s Fantastic Films, Ireland’s leading genre film production company.

"I’m working with Fantastic Films on a couple of projects, attached to one as a director that I haven’t written. Then there's one I am writing and directing called Rainy Days. It’s a post-apocalyptic story that’s a bit unusual. It’s ultimately hopeful. It’s got child protagonists, but it is of course a horror film," says Clarke.

What draws Clarke to the horror genre? She replies: "I think since as long as human beings have been telling each other stories, horror has been a great vehicle for us to help unpick and understand real world threats and trauma. For me, the supernatural horror in The Devil’s Doorway is a heightened metaphor. It’s about the real horrors.”

The Devil’s Doorway premieres at the Galway Film Fleadh on July, 11 before receiving a US release on July 13.