And Through The Portal We Go

The glowing Portal in the woods is real. That is established early and it doesn’t waver. Three people have organized their entire lives around it. They are the last ones left. Everyone else in the cult has already gone. Now it’s finally their turn to step through, and nothing goes the way it was supposed to.

Mike Hayhurst wrote and directed And Through the Portal We Go from his house and surrounding woods in Glen Spey, New York, which became the Alyom Compound: warm and welcoming on the surface, stripped back and almost monastic underneath. He co-wrote the film with his three leads, Sarah Goeke, Joseph Lymous, and Taylor Dalton Curtis, who play Katie, Craig, and Mikey. Lymous was most recently seen playing George on HBO’s The Chair Company. The characters were built through improvisation and rehearsal before anyone turned on a camera. Their chemistry was not discovered on set. It was built while creating the world together.

The Question That Started It

Hayhurst fell into pandemic cult documentaries like a lot of people did. The question that launched the film wasn’t about cults specifically. It was about faith: cult leaders are usually selling a lie, but what if they weren’t? What if the impossible thing at the center of a cult’s belief system was actually true? Once that premise is in place, it becomes much harder to dismiss everything else the cult teaches. The story grew from there.

Starting After Everyone Else Is Gone

Most cult stories focus on recruitment, manipulation, or the charismatic leader. Hayhurst was more interested in what happens after the dust settles. Katie, Craig, and Mikey have spent years building their identities around this belief system. They are standing at the finish line with no roadmap for what comes next. The film is less about the cult and more about friendship, loyalty, and what happens when the thing you’ve dedicated your life to doesn’t unfold the way you imagined.

The Loop Turns the Pressure Up

When the trio steps through the Portal and wakes up at the start of the previous day, the time loop becomes the mechanism. Every reset forces them to confront the possibility that they’ve misunderstood something fundamental. They start like good cult members: follow the rules, trust the teachings, stay committed. As the loop continues, those certainties crack. The real test becomes whether they can keep trusting each other when they can no longer trust the framework that has guided their lives. The loop becomes less about escaping and more about learning to live with uncertainty.

Where the Comedy Comes From

Hayhurst’s background is in devised theatre. Rather than a locked script, the film was built through outlining, rehearsal, and improvisation. By the time production started, everyone knew the story and the emotional journey of each scene, but the actors discovered how to get there in the moment. The passive aggression, the petty arguments over how best to clean the table, the awkward moments: all of it comes from people who genuinely care. That affection is what allows the film to be funny while the stakes feel real.

What to Know Before You Press Play

“Pour a cup of cold brew, make a slice of avocado toast, and join us for the Morning Offering,” Hayhurst says. The film is about friendship, faith, and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world. If you’ve ever felt stuck, or found yourself waiting for some big moment that was supposed to change everything, he thinks you’ll recognize something of yourself in Katie, Craig, and Mikey. No sugar or garlic required.

Comedy

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Streaming now on Relay.