A disturbed man with unknown psychic abilities is trying to figure out the disappearance of his parents — all while battling his own demons — in The Dark Within, a new movie from David Ryan Keith (The Redwood Massacre, Ghosts of Darkness).

Paul Flannery (who was also in Ghosts of Darkness and co-wrote this film) stars as Marcus, a man who has dealt with psychic abilities his entire life. His counselor believes that by going back to his childhood home, perhaps he can defeat some of his demons. Speaking of demons — this same place is where psychic experiments took place, so perhaps it’s not the best place for him to go.

There’s a real moment of horror here that I enjoyed — Marcus attempts to dial 911 when his girlfriend is critically injured, but as he’s battling an entity that can warp his mind, he has no idea if he’s really hurt her, if she’s real or what’s going on. Even when he calls for help, the voice on the other side taunts and laughs at him. That means that even the last resort that we depend on for him can’t aid our protagonist, which is a truly scary concept.

This film also has some really disturbing effects, like the psychic energy being released from the people during the experiments and the skinless creatures that stalk the cabin. This film goes above and beyond the look, feel, sounds and scares that you usually get from a modern horror film.

The Dark Within comes out July 9 on VOD and DVD from Uncork’d Entertainment.

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this movie by its PR team. That has no impact on our review.