The Gate

The tone of this movie is fucking perfect. This is what I want from a horror movie. Well developed characters, a basic plot, cool creatures, and some gnarly effects. The only reason I can see this movie being so negatively received is it's adult level gore in a film clearly targeting towards kids. PG-13 flicks can get away with quite a bit these days but looking back at this one, it's hard to see how it got away with it's rating. Kind of like Gremlins meets the Monster Squad.

The central character, played by Stephen Dorff, comes off as so incredibly bummed out. He and his friend, played by Louis Tripp, are clearly in need of some parental affection but can't seem to find it. Louis' character, Terry, is coping with the recent passing of his mother (which he dreams about, creepily enough) and Stephen Dorff's character, Glen, is left alone for the weekend with his older sister who throws parties for the duration of their absence.

There is some incredibly disturbing imagery in this flick. Including one scene where Glen looks at a family picture which is shown to be completely normal earlier in the film but when he looks later he sees that everyone in the picture is dead, covered in blood. As if that's not creepy enough, after he notices it and goes to tell someone he then sighs and says "forget it" in such a bummed out voice.

Another one of the more striking visuals comes when Glen runs out of the front of his house into his father's arms. Then his father lifts him up into the air, with Glen's only defense being to push in on his father's face, which then proceeds to rot inward with this sticky yellow gunk and roll off his shoulders and onto the ground. While his mother laughs behind him. Fucked up!

And the effects in this movie are so insanely good for a film made in the late eighties. I don't know if it was all stop motion, or just miniatures, or what. But those little creatures looked so fucking awesome. Stick that in your CGI pipe and download it. Or something...

But the kids are the heart of this story. Their friendship and endurance through all the madness is what keeps the film interesting. And the fact that they learn about the demons from a heavy metal album is pretty sweet too. Definitely a hidden gem from a decade packed full of horror hits. This deserves much more recognition as we'd be lucky to have more films like this around today.