‘At His Doorstep’ is the first ever found footage Bulgarian horror film and was made on a shoestring budget of just $4000. Created in 5 months including pre and post production and was shot in just 4 days by director Violet Pancheva.
‘At His Doorstep’ centers around Annie, a famous vlogger, and her two best friends – Iveta and Milena – are shooting an episode for her new online series “Bulgaria’s Scariest Places” inside an abandoned building deep in the woods of Lyulin Mountain. In the name of good content, they decide that it’s best to spend the night there all alone, aiming to capture the strange phenomena which have been reported for years. When night falls and Milena goes missing, the girls quickly realize that they are not alone, and that whatever evil inhabits the place, it has no intention of ever letting them leave.
Credit: The Circle and the Visual and the AudioPRESS RELEASE:
The old abandoned building that used to function as a rest house nearly 30 years ago. During the 60s and 70s it was the most preferred vacation place in the area. However, with years passing by, incidents started occurring on the building’s grounds. Reports of child suicides can still be found in the city’s archives. After the rest house went out of business, numerous groups of people went there seeking a thrill, believing that it was haunted. Their stories, found on the Internet, were the main source of inspiration for the movie. The team also spent two nights in the building while shooting, which was a thrilling experience for everyone.
The idea of the existence of a spiritual world, a parallel universe, of energies that we cannot comprehend, has been discussed, studied and written about since the very first human civilization. We wanted to use this concept in the movie as soon as we started working on the script. This is how Mephisto – a demon, first mentioned at the close of the Middle Ages, got his way into “At His Doorstep”. He is the puppeteer, who is pulling the strings of our characters in the dark and gives them the false sense of control over their actions. In order to integrate him into the movie as authentically as possible, we went through a lot of research. Still, his presence is shown in subtle ways – his acts, his texts and his sigil.
Credit: The Circle and the Visual and the AudioThe movie presents the idea that the abandoned building in the woods is built on grounds, that for centuries have been a gateway between two fields of existence. It is an entrance to the home of evil. A place, where a person’s perception of reality is toyed with. This concept of a shifting reality is presented via drastic changes on the environment, as well as sound and visual effects.
“At His Doorstep” is a found footage horror film based on true stories and human experiences. It is a modern day horror with a hint of ancient evil. The main source of inspiration for the film were the numerous stories told amongst the locals about this abandoned building, that once functioned as a rest house deep into the woods. Many incidents, including an unusual amount of child suicides, occurred on the building’s grounds, which eventually caused it to go out of business nearly thirty years ago.” said director Violet Pancheva.
She went on to explain why they chose the found footage sub-genre and why it made sense for the story and what influenced their shots.
“Found footage was the sub-genre I found most suitable for expressing my concept of a doorstep between two worlds. Utilizing the handheld camera motion, I aim to provoke the viewer’s imagination and play with their perception of reality. In the movie you can also see that we were also inspired by some of the latest survival horror games and their camera movement.”
‘At His Doorstep’ is currently making round at festivals and will be released sometime in 2021.
