WRITTEN, DIRECTED, AND PRODUCED BY: J. M. STELLY

EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY: JOHNNY STASSI

STUDIO - ANATOMICA PRODUCTIONS

STARRING - JARED BANKENS, MATT STORY, JAMIE NIPE, KEEGAN MACY, JOHNNY STASSI

LOGLINE

Inspired by true events, Within Madness follows filmmaker and serial killer Mark Chapel and his deranged partner Donovan Summers, whose obsession with control and pain leads to a series of brutal murders. When police uncover Chapel’s film The Sacrament of Bondage, which depicts Donovan’s spiral into psychopathy, prison interviews expose their shared madness.

SYNOPSIS

On August 17th, 2018, authorities responded to a call that led them to the residence of a man named Vaughn Neil—an alias for filmmaker Mark Chapel. Inside, investigators uncovered a nightmare: the remains and execution tapes of twenty-three women and six men, along with hundreds of Polaroids depicting possible additional victims. Chapel’s arrest also led to the capture of his collaborator, Donovan Summers, revealing one of the most disturbing partnerships in modern criminal history.

As detectives dug deeper, they unearthed a series of film canisters—three disturbing works directed by Chapel. The first, The Sacrament of Bondage, exposes the birth of Donovan Summers’ descent into psychopathy and chronicles the brutal murders of his first two victims. What began as an "artistic exploration” of obsession and control devolved into a haunting record of real violence—evidence of two men consumed by their own madness.