The trailer for Avan Jogies's directorial film debut posits Hayley Law as comic book creator Door Mouse, releasing this month in theaters and VOD.

The trailer for the gritty thriller, Door Mouse, starts off ominously with a shot of a hallway in what looks like an old tenement apartment. As if to let us know the film has a skewed perspective, a graphic novel-esque version of the same shot flickers with a crackle as the camera moves inward.

With its edgy vibe, this preview for the feature film debut of actor Avan Jogia (Shaft, Zombieland: Double Tap, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City), sets its unsettling tone from the get-go as it lingers on a shot of its star, Hayley Law (Riverdale, Mark, Mary & Some Other People), standing in that same flat’s hallway, looking right at the camera with a worried side-of-face look.

Door Mouse posits Law as Mouse, a comic book author/artist, who works at Mama’s Burlesque Club where there have been some shady occurrences such as the mysterious disappearances of a few women. The film, which goes into limited release this month, also stars Keith Powers, Donal Logue, and Famke Janssen. There is no credit given to where the movie is supposed to take place, but it was shot in Ontario, Canada.

But back to that stirring shot of Law’s Mouse, in which we hear a voice-over conversation. "Hey, Mama, did Doe Eyes come in today?" a young woman asks. "You know Doe pretty girl, dumb as a rock - must’ve forgot," speaks a crusty-throated Janssen. "Didja try calling her," the first voice inquires, to the replay of, "I did, nuthin." "I can go to her place tomorrow and check in."

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This tense exchange leads to some dark alternative music ques as the production companies, Gravitas Ventures, Highland Film Group, and Goldrush Entertainment flash by, and then it cuts to shots of Mouse working on her drawing, and browsing at a comics store. We then get an excerpt of her talking with Janssen, who asks "How are your comics going?"

Janssen’s Mama obviously appears to be a mentor figure for her employees, and she seems to provide a cynical tone to the proceedings. "Haven't sold a single copy," Law’s Mouse announces. "Oh, Mousey, baby, don't give up. Trust me, you want out of this place," Janssen offers as a beating heart-style synth activates.

Then we get an actual plot line with Mouse, sitting in the darkness, talking to someone unseen, stating, "We had two girls go missing from Mama’s in the past week." As the accompanying music gets eerier, we see the art of the two missing women, while Mouse continues. "One got snatched from her home, and the other got grabbed in an alley by guys in suits and got thrown into a Limo."

Fleeting shots of Logue, Mouse smoking a cigarette while driving, and a close-up of Nhi Do as Doe Eyes bathed in pink light flow by then we cut to what looks like a warehouse backroom. "Sounds like they’re dead to me," a touch, black-clad Gabriel Carter, credited as Crew Daddy, says from a couch in a dark setting, and we get more fleeting images: Logue as a scruffy tweed-suited detective, medics putting a body on a stretcher, and someone getting abducted via a sack put over their head.

"We got to get them," Mouse, again with fierce determination, intones. But more than one voice, blended together tells her. "You’re looking down deep Door Mouse, asking dangerous questions."

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Suddenly we are forced to take in one of the trailer’s most disturbing beats: a tight close-up of the mouth of a nurse, portrayed by Elizabeth Saunders who says, "You only wanted a nibble, but it looks like you got the whole wheel of cheese. Didn’t you, little Door Mouse."

A stream of scary imagery then explodes with figures in suits and paper mache masks, undefined action shots, and an in-your-face shot of Mouse with a gun and firing. This then cycles back to our heroine saying, "No one calls me Door Mouse." The trailer winds up with the title, accompanied by Necking’s Big Mouth blaring, and leads into a quick run of our stars’ credits, with each name sliding in around shots of Law walking through a dark, gray tunnel.

The messed-up, low-rent, and, frankly scummy looking world that the Door Mouse trailer gives us a taste of seems to indicate that this film has a cult movie sensibility and a punk rock style. Initially, one may think that this is an adaptation of a graphic novel, but it is its own contained, original property. However, the character of Mouse was inspired by the iconic animated character Daria, who had a popular series on MTV from 1997-2002.

Daniel Cook Johnson is a Raleigh, NC-based author, critic, and pop culture historian. He has maintained the site, Film Babble Blog, since 2004, and his book, Wilcopedia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Music of America's Best Band, was published by Jawbone Press in 2019. Follow @filmbabble on Twitter