Starring: Stephen Dorff, Christa Denton, Louis Tripp, Kelly Rowan, Jennifer Irwin Directed By: Tibor Takács Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC Label: Platinum Disc Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: November 26, 2003 Running Time: 85 minutes Theatrical Release Date: May 15, 1987
Glen (Stephen Dorff) is your average pre-teen boy who gets grounded for the weekend with his sister Al (Christa Denton) as she throws in a party. However Glen with his friend Terry (Louis Tripp) discover a weird hole in the ground and uses a special demonic rock album with magic spells on summoning demons yet they get one hell of a night literally when they discover that hole leads to the gates of hell where demons and evil spirits terrorize them for the night but can they close the gate to hell?
Excellent and highly underrated cult 1987 supernatural horror thriller favorite that was a runaway suprise box-office hit in may of 1987. The acting even by debut actor Stephen Dorff who would become Deacon Frost from "Blade" were superb and even the special effects including the mother demon are excellent for it's time. I like the movie's concept of an average suburban backyard being a hole straight to hell and a rock album that can actually summon demons, this movie does offer memorable moments like the eye in the hand and some gore for a PG-13 rating. It's a winner in my books that has a nice HP Lovecraft tone to it and spawned a sequel in 1992 with an upcoming 3D r-rated Remake in the works.
This DVD is bareboned with a bad transfer and only in fullscreen with no trailer, but hopefully MGM will get the rights to 1 and 2 in a clean polished double feature in time for the new movie.
Also recommended: "Poltergeist", "Suspiria", "Silent Hill", 1408", "Pet Sematary", "City of the Living Dead", "House By The Cemetery", "Hellraiser 1, 2, 3 and 4", "The Omen (1976)", "The Exorcist", "The Haunting in Conneticut", "Night of the Demons", "Event Horizon", "Gremlins", "The Fog (1980)", "Demons 1 & 2", "Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend", "Cat's Eye", "From Dusk Till Dawn", "Evil Dead 1 & 2", "Mirrors", "Burnt Offerings", "The Haunting (1963 and 1999)", "House (1986)", "Ghostbusters 1 & 2", "Twilight Zone The Movie", "Pumpkinhead", "Making Contact (a.k.a. Joey)", "End of Days", "Constantine", "The Frighteners", "The Pit", "The Gate 2", "Stephen King's IT", "Ghostbusters 1 & 2" and "The Beyond".
Discontinued why? Can somebody tell me why this dvd has been discontinued? it's going for a ridiculous price on here! this movie needs to be a part of a 2-pak with parts one and two.
A true freak-out movie... On it's own, the movie itself is easily a 5 out of 5 in the reviews. It's creepy and disturbing and most of us have feared some of the stuff that happens to the kids in this movie happening to us when we were kids.
Having grown up on records, we often ran them backwards to try to hear secret backmasking messages in them - though we never actually did. Our basement was damp, dark and creepy - purely the turf of the washer, dryer and the furnace. My babysitter when I was young was often my older sister, and we made it a point to spook each other with games like "Bloody Mary" and attributing every little creak, crack and groan the house made in the night to something coming to get us.
Back then, my young mind would turn the shapes of my coat rack, lamps and even my robe on the back of my door into menacing shadows that I was certain were monsters. Then there were the storage cabinets that took the place of the space normally under a bed. I was certain that more than once I heard a soft *snick* sound of one of them opening in the darkness. On more than one sleepover, my friends and I made attempts at contacting "the other side" with a cardboard ouija board with a plastic pointer sporting mole foam feet.
The Gate plays on those fears nicely and I love the movie.
So, why give it only 4 stars? Well, I had to subtract something for the presentation. The print is pretty rough and it's present only in a 4:3 "Full Screen" format, instead of its proper wide screen aspect ration of 1.85:1. The movie dates itself a bit here and there, too, but overall my only complaint is with the presentation.
only avail in USA? Only available in US? WTF this is a Canadian movie, how does that even happen, and more importaintly, WHY? Hello AMAZON this is the INTERNET and its WORLDWIDE. enough said..... they'll never get it.
Great Gate When I was looking for some inspiration for a plot involving little monsters attacking people, I had several movies to choose from. The "little monsters attack" horror/comedy genre was a fad that started with Gremlins and continued on through Critters, Ghoulies, and Troll in the eighties, among others. I was looking for more horror, less comedy. You need look no further than The Gate.
The Gate's concept is straightforward horror: kids alone (Stephen Dorf as preteen Glen and Christa Denton as his big sister Al) at home inadvertently open a literal pit to the netherworld and all hell breaks loose. But that's oversimplifying the movie, because there's so much more here.
Despite its PG-13 rating, The Gate is rather disturbing. Two of the kids are kidnapped by demons, a dead dog is involved, and a parent's head explodes. At one point Al grabs her father's gun and fires it (!) at one of the monsters. Glen's friend Terry (Louis Tripp) comes back as a demon to bite our protagonist, who proceeds to poke out his eye with a Barbie doll's leg. There's no way this movie would get a PG-13 rating today!
Then there are the little demons themselves, who seem like every kid's nightmare. The director knew how to use "bigatures" to his advantage (a technique perfected in Lord of the Rings), giving the demons a disturbingly lifelike appearance since they're actually actors in suits on a larger backdrop. There are other great FX too, not the least of which is a zombie exploding into a swarm of little demons. And to the movie's credit, artwork seen early in the movie depicts the demon lord accurately - the stop-motion demon that shows up at the end is every bit as horrifying.
Although this is a kid's movie, The Gate pushes all the buttons kids are afraid of. The demons prevent the kids from calling their parents (shouting, "YOU'VE BEEN BAAAD!"). The dead dog shows up in the most frightening places. And long, clawed arms snake out underneath beds to grab at the unsuspecting. If this movie doesn't give kids nightmares, nothing will.
The movie is hopelessly mired in the eighties. The teens dressed with ridiculous big hairstyles. The next door neighbor Terry (Louis Tripp) learns how to repel the demons by playing his death metal record backwards. And the dialogue is hopeless: "Suck my nose until my head caves in," is Glen's taunt to one of Al's annoying friends.
But that's beside the point. This is a movie about a kid's love for his big sister and rockets, both of which help him overcome the forces of evil. With special effects ahead of its time, demons that are anything but cute, and a climax that is both terrifying and inspirational, The Gate is an entertaining piece of eighties horror history. After the hell poor Glen goes through, he deserves the sappy happy ending.
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