Good ol’ 80s horror!
Typically, when I think of 80s horror, I think of copious amounts of gore and lots of bare-breasted ladies. The Gate doesn’t roll that way, yet it still manages to be a staple of 80s horror cinema.
It had been ages since I’d watched The Gate, so long that I didn’t remember if I liked it or not. All I remembered was that it scared me. Spoiler alert: it still does. It’s goofy, in the way many of the films of that era are, but it still manages to frighten the viewer.
Maybe it’s the kid in me, the me who saw it for the first time, picking it off the shelf at the video store, pressing play with no more information than what was provided on the VHS case. I was probably eleven or twelve that first time, and it scared the shit out of me. That part of me still lingers when I’m watching a movie from the 80s. Films from my childhood scare me more than any other.
The Gate is about about some kids who, through a series of unfortunate events, open a gateway to hell in one of the kid’s backyard. Their parents are conveniently away for a few days and none of the neighbors apparently respond to the craziness going on next door.
The plot is kinda all over the place, but I think that works in the movie’s favor. Once the gate is fully open, it’s just one weird happening after another, with none of it making a whole lot of sense. But that confusion makes it all the more scary.
For the time period, the special effects are great. Lots of stop motion stuff and other practical effects. There’s a little CGI, which is predictably awful. But you almost don’t notice it.
If I had to nitpick, the complete absence of adults for the majority of the movie is ridiculous. Not only are the parents gone, they apparently don’t even call to check in on the kiddos. But I don’t really care. It’s a fun movie, even without tits and buckets of blood. By the way, even without much blood, it has some splattery moments!
Oh, and Stephen Dorff is the lead kid in this movie. He’s pretty damn good! Whatever happened to that dude?
PC3’s Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness!
Gore - 5
Special Effects - 7
Nudity/Sexuality - 0
Wow Factor - 6
Acting - 5
Fear Factor - 7
Story/Plot/Originality - 6
Cinematography - 6
Sound/Music - 4
Fun Factor - 8
A very respectable 54 PHEMSA score for The Gate. I could watch this one over and over again, and probably find something new I love about it each time. One thing I need is a shirt with the fictional Sacrifyx band from the movie on it. I wonder if my boy T-shirt Joe Garcia has made such a shirt… Anyway, the movie hits me in the nostalgia feels, for sure. It’s on Tubi right now if you’re interested.