11 years ago, when still a child, Kyle (in the flashbacks played by
Easton Lee McCusiton) lost his brother Ryan (William Ryan Watson) in a
freak farming accident, which Kyle feld partially responsible for. Now
Ryan was the pride of the town, the top quarterback, a ladies' man, a good
guy, and whatnot ... and somehow, the whole town held Kyle responsible for
Ryan's death, something that quickly spun out of control. Now, Kyle (now
played by Austin Madding), a film school graduate, decides to return to
his hometown with his girlfriend Mandy (Abby Murphy), his best mate Tanner
(Shaun Gerardo), and a video camera, because they want to make a
documentary out of it. Back in his hometown, Kyle is quick to rekindle
his friendship with Henry (Josh Cornelius), the sheriff's (Steve Crowley)
son ... but other than that, everybody seems to still bear a grudge
against Kyle, be it his arch enemy Samuel (Joshua Mark Robinson), or some
bullies that were once friends of Ryan's and now want to finally lynch
Kyle - but then the bullies are found dead, brutally slaughtered, and even
though he couldn't have committed this crime, he seems to be somehow
responsible ... and the key to it all might be local cult leader Jordan
(Bill Oberst jr), a man who has been at conflict with the law more than
once, and whom Kyle seems to know a lot better than he ought to. But it
soon becomes clear there's more going on in this stretch of the woods than
just a borderline insane cultleader - but nobody has the slightest idea
what ... The Dooms Chapel Horror is found footage
flick, murder mystery, evil cult horror and monster movie all rolled into
one ... and it works like a charm: For starters, the story is very well
told and keeps you guessing until the end without just confusing the
audience to hide narrative shortcomings, the found footage approach does
for a change not stand in the way of proper, in a good way old-fashioned
suspense, the movie drops the approach when the story demands it, and
overall the shocks are well-set and don't stand in the way of atmosphere.
And add to that a very solid cast and you've got yourself a pretty good
movie.
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