No Shortage of Terror in Nicholas McCarthy’s Latest ‘At The Devil’s Door’

Jonny Whiteside

With At the Devil’s Door, due on September 12th, director Nicholas McCarthy clearly aims to redouble the subtle, yet effective, mixture of atmospheric tension and jolting terror that distinguished his 2012 debut, The Pact. McCarthy is a writer-director who knows that, in horror features, reliance on a willing suspension of disbelief is just not enough today. The genre’s increasingly sophisticated audience expects nothing less than exquisitely executed emotional and psychological manipulation. Horror has become a surprisingly rarified arena, one where exploitation and artistry, verisimilitude and fantasy must not only sometimes collide, but inextricably co-mingle.

Where The Pact redefined the modern ghost story, At the Devil’s Door flirts with the ultimate boogeyman, Lucifer himself. It’s a thoroughly creepy tale that begins as Leigh, an up-and-coming young realtor, played by Academy Award-nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno, who agrees to sell a house for a couple devastated by the loss of their runaway daughter. Before long, the missing teen disturbingly re-appears, drawing both Leigh and her younger sister Vera, Glee’s Naya Rivera, deeper and deeper into a shadowy, bizarre realm of dangerous supernatural circumstance.

Theatrically distributed by IFC Midnight, At the Devil’s Door is rich with tension and suspense, and McCarthy’s deftly constructs a macabre mood via a low-key, yet lurid blend of such influences as renowned Italian Giallo genre provocateur Dario Argento and the squirmy exquisite Japanese brand of contemporary horror. He also effectively underscores the archetypal centuries-old 666 dread associated with Satan—there’s even a creepy sequence that references the mythic intersection where soul-destroying bargains are made, a nice move that really heightens the film’s impact.

McCarthy is a serious horror filmmaker, one who parlayed the success of his original short version of The Pact into a full-length feature by essentially fast-talking his way into production—asked if there was also a feature length screenplay, he unhesitatingly said “yes,” but didn’t mention it hadn’t yet been written. He doesn’t go the easy route, taking deliberate pains to create and maintain a distinctively eerie overall tone and he also has a great instinct for the unexpected. This even extends to casting, with Rivera going against her tuneful small screen type to tremendous effect. At the Devil’s Door looks to be another step up in the career of this promising—and terrifying—genre auteur.

At The Devil’s Door is available on VOD now. It will be theatrically released on September 12th.