After a tree in the backyard of his house is demolished, young Glen and his best friend Terry dig in the remaining hole, and unearth a strange geode. Accidentally pricking himself, Glen spills blood in the hole, and they both return home. Shortly thereafter, a series of strange events begin to occur, and the origin of the hole in Glen's backyard is discovered to be more demonic than initially realized...
Wow. For the first time in this year's iteration of the blog, I found a movie that I have virtually nothing to complain about. This is...unusual. Hell, even some of the entries I enjoyed immensely (Thirst, Pontypool) had some problems that slightly brought them down from being perfect, but The Gate is pretty darn awesome.
I've always been fascinated by horror films that are clearly aimed at younger audiences, but can also be immensely entertaining for adults as well. This is the reason why flicks like Stephen King's It are so fondly remembered. The kids in The Gate are all very easy to like, and are the furthest things from morons or bothersome. This was Stephen Dorff's film debut, and I'm starting to think this might be the pinnacle of his career. There's also his heavy metal-loving friend Terry (Louis Tripp), and Glen's teenage sister Al (Christa Denton). They're all doing fine jobs here, and in addition to spouting off some rather amusing lines, can pull off looking scared or shocked rather well.
It is undeniable that this has a very distinct "80s" charm and feel to it, with a real sense of wonder and the feeling that you could be stuck in the ultimate nightmare when the gate itself is opened and it unleashes all sorts of hellish trouble. Speaking of the gate, the effects work in here is pretty solid, and the monstrosities that emerge felt like an old tribute to Ray Harryhausen's old stop motion techniques. I also found it to be a little coincidental/funny that I've now watched two films in the past two days that both featured graphic facial destruction. If that pops up at all again in the last entries, I'll be convinced that something is amiss.
This is great fun. Is it perfect? No, but if you are between the ages of eight and fourteen, this could be the holy grail of hidden horror gems for sure. Even if you're not, this is still a very fun, creepy, and almost Lovecraftian horror film that I can only hope earns more fans over time. I know there are plans to remake this very soon (with friggin' Bill from Bill & Ted as the director!), but I'm not convinced this needs an update of any sort, minus the Blu-ray that was recently released.
I could've done without the somewhat forced happy ending and the clear advertisement for Canadian metal band Sacrifice though.
Oh damn it, I just complained! Curses.
Tomorrow, we're winding down to the very end, and tackle the often discussed HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER.
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