All of us have made mistakes in life, some larger than others. We’ve also wondered what it would be like to go back in time and undo past errors. That’s very much what Cameron Beyl’s moody mystery The Veil is all about. A retired priest named Douglas (Sean O’Bryan) is haunted by an event from many years ago. Yet, when he suddenly gets a chance to remedy what torments him, it doesn’t go as planned.

The film opens with a young Douglas (Will Tranfo) driving down the road. Suddenly, he encounters an Amish woman. She emerges from nearby woods and begs him to help her. However, instead of inviting her in his car and providing her refuge, he drives away. Fast forward to the present. Douglas has retired from the cloth and spends his days at his secluded home in Lancaster, PA. Though he should be enjoying his retirement, he’s tormented by that fateful night decades ago, when he ignored the woman and drove on.

Suddenly, another Amish woman, who looks eerily like the one Douglas encountered all those years ago, shows up at his doorstep. Hannah (Rebekah Kennedy) claims that she’s escaping from her husband, but it’s not entirely clear why. Mystery shrouds Hannah. To complicate matters further, there’s a solar storm that knocks out the power and creates an otherworldly greenish glow throughout the film, adding a dash of sci-fi.

This movie is a two-person show, and thankfully, Kennedy and O’Bryan do quite a good job. Kennedy endows her character with a sense of vulnerability and defensiveness, while maintaining her character’s mysterious aura. O’Bryan, meanwhile, does a fine job playing a seemingly well-intentioned priest. The problem is that his character’s over-eagerness to remedy the mistake he made decades ago only spooks Hannah. Beyl’s talents as a director really drew memorable performances from his two leads, and I’d especially like to see Kennedy in other horror films. She was also quite good in the 2021 feature Two Witches.

Though The Veil certainly has some supernatural elements with a dose of sci-fi, the film works as a slow-burn drama and character study more than anything else. It’s primarily about the deep regret that Douglas harbors. It also contemplates what exactly it would mean if we could correct a mistake from years ago. Would it necessarily make things better?

The Veil is a lean and thoughtful feature with two strong performances at its core. It’s an atmospheric film that will give viewers plenty to ponder after the credits roll.