The Gate

I would have never guessed in a million years that a PG-13 horror movie actually existed in the 80’s. I knew horror was big then, but big enough to make a movie for the under eighteen? I was definitely going to have to watch The Gate.

This fun, campy horror flick is about Glen (Stephen Dorff) and his best friend, Terry (Louis Tripp), accidentally finding a gateway to hell in Glen’s backyard, and with the help from a rock band that had written songs about the gate, try to close it up. Unfortunately, all doesn’t go that well. With Glen’s parents gone for the weekend and his big sister, Al (Christa Denton), in charge, this can only mean one thing: demons.

The downside about the demons, though? Well, actually there are two things. One, they’re about the size of a newborn kitten, which sort of takes away what could have been something good and “scary” (though if you were about ten when watching this, it would have given you nightmares compared to anyone over thirteen.) However, considering it is a low-budget movie that does involve kids, I’m sure they couldn’t make them too challenging of demons (they were actually rather stronger than you would have suspected!) The other downside is that it takes nearly fifty minutes for anything even remotely scary to happen (the very first incident is when long creature-looking arms are grabbing Al’s leg from under a bed in Glen’s room.) After that, the movie becomes a wonderful roller coaster ride, but then the ride slows down and before you know it, it’s time to get off.

When the bed scene is over we actually get a little - and I do mean just a little - gore! Now I’m not talking gore as in The Thing, but the gore was good enough for the movie and to not make anyone queasy. As far the special effects go, today they would have been considered “bad”, but for the era back then they’re actually rather decent. The kids do a satisfying job on their acting, especially Louis Tripp!

This is definitely a classic any fan of the 80’s must see!

Overall grade: B+