It seems like every streaming service around the world is dominated by true crime documentaries, but director Sean Hogan is looking to unpack — and put a creepy new spin on — the genre as a whole. Blue Finch Films just released the first trailer for The Dark Gets In, a new film told through a faux missing persons documentary that slowly reveals something much grimmer than your average crime.
Written and directed by Sean Hogan, The Dark Gets In stars Charlotte Pyke, Cameron Lewis, Scott Burchell, and Kezia Cotterell. The film’s synopsis is as follows:
A mock-true crime documentary detailing the mysterious disappearance of a young girl. After teenager Aisling vanishes from her home one night, the investigation rapidly hits a dead end.Security cameras show no one entering or leaving the house. Any leads the police uncover go nowhere. There seems to be no logical explanation for her disappearance.
Only when a witness identifies the prime suspect in the case as her long-dead brother does it become clear that the truth may be completely illogical – perhaps even supernatural. The girl's grieving family are soon plunged into a waking nightmare. Before, they were afraid Aisling might be dead … but what if there are even worse things to fear?
“The Dark Gets In first came about after a previous feature project was cancelled due to the pandemic,” says Hogan. “My producers were keen on the idea of making a true crime documentary instead, but I argued it would be more interesting to fictionalise a story like that and take it in some unexpected directions.
“I pitched them on the idea of a compelling crime mystery that eventually reveals itself to be something else entirely: something truly unnerving, where the audience gradually becomes more and more frightened by the story. However, I also wanted there to be a profoundly emotional core to the film. I myself have lost close family members suddenly and unexpectedly, and know just how wrenching that experience can be.”
The Dark Gets In is produced by Evrim Ersoy, with executive producers Paul Goodwin, Jim Hinson, Nick Harwood, Mike Chapman, and Fatima Hayward. The film premieres at this year’s Beyond Fest on October 2 at the Los Feliz 3. No wide release date has been announced.
