No.143 : The Gate (1987)

The Gate at the IMDb

When I was scrolling through the vast THE Movies to see database I stopped at this one as it starred Stephen (it’s a good name) Dorff who is usually good value. It was only after about ten minutes, that I realised that Dorff was playing the 10 year old hero in this 1987 horror. Who knew celebrities aged at the same rate as the rest of us?! Dorff was actually 13/14 when playing the role of Glen but looks younger. He must have had a big spurt later on, as he was in ‘Backbeat’ just 7 years later.

‘The Gate’ isn’t great, but it was better than I thought it was going to be at the 15 minute mark - it had all the hallmarks of an after school special, but it soon branched out into a master class of horror effects and teenage screams.

We start with Glen having a hell of a time - his garden is a nightmare and his tree house gets hit by lightening - but wait! It was only a dream! He gets up and finds men taking away a fallen tree in his garden and dismantling his tree house - was it a dream? Yes but a prescient one!

His McCann like parents announce that they are going away for the weekend and are leaving Al, Glen’s 14 year old sister, in charge. Glenn isn’t to go out as he’s been grounded due to nearly setting the house on fire due to his hobby of firing rockets - remember that for later. Al is told not to have a party so immediately we get a cut to the tamest teenage party you’ll ever see - plenty of 80’s hair and legwarmers though.

Glen is too busy investigating the hole left by the fallen tree in his garden with his nerdy friend Terry. They have found a geode worth loads of bucks and decide to dig for more - huge mistake! They find a biggie but this unleashes Hell, or at least loads of guys in demon suits, shot in forced perspective (thanks IMDb) - but for all the world it looks like stop motion.

Things get worse with a dead dog and a zombie in the wall - can the gate be closed or will hell reign of Earth?

This film was decent fun with plenty of nods to every teen and ‘summon the devil’ film that you’ve ever seen. There an early seen when words appear on an off brand Etch-a-Sketch - ‘Don’t read them out’ I thought. Of course they do and smoke starts billowing out of the gate!

The effects were good and I especially liked the demonic minions despite them being pretty ineffectual. The big boss at the end was less good as was the conclusion which was a bit pat.

It was well done however with almost the whole film taking place on one set. It felt claustrophobic without being limited, although I kept thinking that the parents would be mad when they get home.

The mostly young cast were fine with some frankly terrible dialogue to contend with. Most of the exposition comes from a heavy metal album sleeve so you knew it wasn’t meant to be taken too seriously. Dorff does well in his first major role and he kept the right side of being too cute. His sister and nerdy pal were worse, as was the ‘frat pack’ of beer drinking assholes who wandered in and out of scenes.

There were enough good bits to keep you interested and I especially liked Terry’s dance with his late mother which was then revealed to be with the family’s aged dog Angus.

There wasn’t too much gore, and it was more laughs than horror, but if you are looking for some mindless fun you could do worse than to open ‘The Gate’. Sorry.

THE Tag Line : You’ll Rate ‘The Gate’! 69%