In an exclusive column for the MTV Movies Blog, filmmaker Chris Gorak takes us into the process and inspiration behind his debut directing effort "Right at Your Door." The intimate thriller looks at a world after four dirty bombs have exploded in Los Angeles (click here to watch an exclusive clip from the film).

I had always envisioned the toxic ash cloud in "Right at Your Door" as the shark fin in "Jaws," circling our two characters who are essentially, marooned at sea. Once the shark is in the water you don’t want to go swimming. Once our characters retreat to the safety of their home, they are trapped in a claustrophobic world of paranoia.

Working in one location was a challenge. Our house was our Orca. We chose to use two cameras every take. And every take, we moved the cameras and changed the lenses, giving us maximum angles and coverage. This approach, I feel, creates a freshness to the one environment.

David Fincher’s "Panic Room" also is essentially a story told in one set. As an audience member you experience the story from every perspective available. It brilliantly takes you everywhere, through walls, under doorways and into air ducts. It was a film that was able to afford a fantastic set on a sound stage. Unfortunately, we did not have that luxury but we still wanted to capture just as much paranoia and anxiety. Using a practical location and not a stage set, we had multiple technical hurdles to overcome. The biggest problem, quite simply, was that with our actors on either side of a sealed door or a real-world plaster wall, at times, they literally could not hear each other. They were missing cues and losing their place in the scene. Read more...

What would you do if your city was under nuclear attack and your contaminated spouse arrived begging to be let inside? That's the central question in the film "Right at Your Door," which stars Rory Cochrane as the husband forced to answer that heart-wrenching question when his wife (played by Mary McCormack) appears outside. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below, and then see it in theaters August 24.

Recent horror flicks like "Saw" and "Hostel" have centered on torturous and sadistic boogeymen, whose sinister machinations have become the new face of terror. But does the real horror come not from external forces, but from deep within our own hearts? That's what Mary McCormack contends, the actress whose next film, "Right at Your Door," focuses on the evil of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. The film, which premiered at Sundance last year, is scheduled for limited release on August 24.

"It's about dirty bombs that go off in Los Angeles and [follows] a husband (Rory Cochrane) and wife," McCormack said of the film's plot. "She's gone off to work and gets caught in the middle of all the terror. She comes back home covered in toxic dust." What would you do? Would you let a potentially infected person -- even a person you loved -- into your home to infect you? Read more...