The Gate (1987)

Good movie but grossly overrated

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

The first must-see film of the year.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

For those of you who were young during the early 90's, there was a show as part of Nickelodeon's 'Snick' night called Are You Afraid of the Dark? It was a show mainly geared at kids and it had a not too wide array of stories meant to scare and terrify the little ones. Only occasionally did it actually do that (the episode with the Nosferatu at the movie theater was a memorable one, but I digress), but that spirit is the kind that I see happening in this low budget, independently filmed kid's horror movie called The Gate. I didn't see it when I was a child, but I wish I had: seeing it now as an adult I do enjoy it for the joys of seeing filmmakers who have an actual goal to execute, which is to have creative (PRACTICAL) special visual effects and a mythology, and actors who aren't bad at all - one of them being a young Stephen Dorff as Glen, and his friend Terry played by Louis Tripp - but I know as a kid it would have knocked my socks off.Could some of that be having lower standards for entertainment? Maybe a little. But that doesn't mean to say I would watch it once and never go back to it; many of the set pieces here involve children in peril, and it all surrounds the great conceit of a portal to hell that has happened due to the wrong words spoken from some book (sound familiar? Calling this Evil Dead Jr. isn't far off the mark, in some moments, not all of course, another thing I thought of was 'Risky Business', only here it's demons from hell instead of prostitutes), and these set pieces involve people actively *doing* things, as Glen gets his sister and her friends (the latter only sometimes) becoming active in fighting against these forces coming upon their house. As a kid, as well as today, I like seeing a story in forward motion, no one acting *too* stupid, and that the creatures are designed with real creativity, and these little demons and a gigantic demon that comes at the end are.The story takes a little time to fully get past the early section, where we're meant to get the dynamic between brother Glen and sister Al ; in brief: she has a lot of friends who may be "bad" influences in that they like to, gasp, party a bit, and do act like d***s sometimes like a levitation 'stunt' that can be blamed on the demons, and some of Glen and his friend Terry, and it lasts just a little too long. It's not bad character set-up, only that it could have been trimmed slightly. Aside from this, once the filmmakers of The Gate get into these monsters and terrible things happening to this house and then how the set-up and pay-off in the script happens with some toy rockets, it's genuinely charming and exciting as a horror movie.If you're looking for something to show your kid as far as a funny (notice how they decide to use the Bible when the original record-album book of spells burns up, by the way in some part from a *real* metal band!), or if you want some nostalgia for a more innocent time of supernatural/demonic horror for younger audiences (whether you were into Are You Afraid of the Dark or not), The Gift is a small but decent treasure that embraces weirdness when it comes and puts up heroism as a virtue and cowardice as something that can be laughed at or even despised. It's a good message, even as it's all dopey fluff, and with such a young Dorff at the center!

Stephen Dorff, Louis Tripp and Christa Denton star in this 1987 horror film. This begins with young kid, Glen (Dorff) having a nightmare. He wakes up and finds a mess in his backyard caused by lightning. Glen has a sister, Al (Denton) and best friend, Terry (Tripp). After Glen's parents go away for the weekend, he and Terry find a crystal rock in the backyard and decide to dig a hole unwittingly releasing demonic creatures from hell. Soon, Glen, Terry and Al find themselves in a nightmare battling the forces of evil. I grew up watching this and always thought it was creepy. The cast is decent and I like the effects & music. I recommend this 80's cult horror classic.

"The Gate" certainly plays like a nightmare from hell gone terribly wrong. Eventually you would hope to wake up, but "The Gate" just goes on and on piling nonsense on nonsense. The big question is, who is the intended audience? This is certainly too scary for children, teenagers will abhor the lack of sex and gore, and adults are not likely to enjoy a movie that has virtually no adults. In addition it takes forever to get going after the hole initially appears. Plus, the whole thing is extremely claustrophobic, taking place entirely in and around one house. Of course another question is, why didn't the kids just run out of the house, and away from all this nonsense? I give up, and so will you. Not recommended. - MERK

Nice kid Glen (a fine Stephen Dorff in his film debut) and his amiable heavy metal music nerd best friend Terry (a solid and likable performance by Louis Tripp) inadvertently release a powerful supernatural force from another dimension through a mysterious hole in Gleen's backyard. If the boys don't figure out a way to close said gate right away, these lethal demonic beings will bring about hell on earth. Director Tibor Takacs and writer Michael Nankin eschew the usual graphic gore and cheap nasty scares found in a majority of 80's slasher fare that was trendy at the time in order to put a welcome and refreshing emphasis on eerie mood and nerve-jangling suspense. The gradual build-up in the opening half leads to a delightfully surreal and nightmarish second half which culminates in a lively and exciting climax. Moreover, the main characters are well developed and genuinely appealing: Dorff and Tripp make for engaging leads while Christa Denton brings an endearingly spunky charm to her role as Glen's sweet older sister Al. Jennifer Irwin and Deborah Grove are amusing as the vapid Lee sisters. Nankin's screenplay boasts several cool offbeat touches: Terry learns about the gate by listening to a hard rock album from an obscure band, the telephone melts, a shambling zombie workman bursts out of the walls, and Glen winds up with an eyeball in the palm of his hand. Kudos are also in order for the dazzling array of excellent and impressive special effects: The giant stop-motion animation beast seen towards the end is truly gnarly while the diminutive demonic minions are quite creepy and funky. Takacs and Nankin bring a positively infectious go-for-it enthusiasm to the material that's impossible to either dislike or resist. Tomas Vanes' slick cinematography and the spirited shuddery score by Michael Hoenig and J. Peter Robinson are both up to par as well. Best of all, there's even an upbeat central message about how the power of pure love can effectively conquer evil. An incredibly fun and worthwhile 80's creature feature winner.