EXCLUSIVE: First look at Andrew Hulme’s follow up to Cannes 2014 entry Snow In Paradise.

The Devil Outside

UK sales outfit Protagonist, riding high off the success of Toronto hit Lady Macbeth, has boarded world sales on Andrew Hulme’s recently wrapped crime-horror The Devil Outside.

Writer-director Hulme’s BFI-backed follow up to his 2014 Cannes Official Selection debut Snow In Paradise charts the story of a young boy (Robert) brought up in a world of evangelical Christianity that has taught him to look for signs and to believe that evil is waiting just outside the front door.

Caught between his mother, who’s determined to bring Jesus’s love to a dead mining town, and his best friend who has introduced him to teenage rebellion, Robert becomes embroiled in a spiritual tug of war as he tries to escape his religious beliefs. It’s then that he discovers a dead body in the woods and realises that God has sent him a sign.

The film was shot over five weeks in rural Nottinghamshire, UK.

The role of Robert is played by 14 year old newcomer Noah Carson who was cast via Nottingham’s Television Workshop.

The film features new and unknown actors from the local area including Daniel Frogson and Lauren Stanley. Robert’s parents are played by Keeley Forsyth (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Alex Lowe (The Brothers Grimsby), and the film also features Mark Stobbart (Skins).

Prior to directing Hulme was an established editor with credits including Control (2007), Gangster No. 1 (2000), Lucky Number Slevin (2005), The Imposter (2011) and Channel 4’s crime saga Red Riding 1974.

The Devil Outside is produced by Christine Alderson of Ipso Facto, whose recent projects include Snow In Paradise and The Banksy Job, which premiered at Tribeca 2016. She has recently completed This Beautiful Fantastic starring Jessica Brown Findlay, Tom Wilkinson, Andrew Scott and Jeremy Irvine, due for release in 2017.

Manuel Chiche and Violaine Barbaroux of Paris-based production and distribution company The Jokers (Trespass Against US) are co-producers.

The UK/French co-production is funded by the BFI, Lipsync Post, Head Gear Films and Backup Media.

Mark Wolf (Battle for Haditha) is director of photography, and other heads of department include John Stevenson (My Summer of Love) as production designer, Ian Fulcher (Murdered by my Boyfriend) as costume designer and Corinne Bossu (King Kong) for hair and make-up.