Horrorfest 2012: The Gate

THE GATE was a pleasant surprise that I had never heard of before -- a 1987 horor film clearly aspiring to fit into the Spielberg sub-genre that was so popular at the time. It's not entirely successful, but it's a shame it's not more well known.

Young Stephen Dorff stars as a young kid who accidentally opens a gate to hell with his best friend (Louis Tripp) and must close it back up again with the help of his older sister (Christa Denton) who is babysitting while their parents are gone for the weekend.

The hole starts as the remnants of an uprooted tree in Dorff's backyard, but weird stuff starts happening soon after it is opened. Several seemingly coincidental elements (a cut hand, a dead dog) begin to add up as Dorff and his friend have nightmarish visions. It isn't long before Tripp's best pal character notices his favorite heavy metal album has instructions embedded in the lyrics both on how to open and how to close just such a hell gate.

With all the wide-eyed shots of kids with their hair blowing in supernatural gusts of wind, and atmospheric flashlight beams slicing through foggy nights in suburban -- but still creepy! --neighborhoods, it is clear that director Tibor Takacs must have been familiar with the then-popular Spielberg brand of horror. Still, this works in the movie's favor and doesn't render it simply as a dated clone.

I guess part of this is due to the special effects work -- there are some delightful throwbacks to stop motion monsters, and some tiny, menacing creatures played by men in costumes with the aid of camera tricks. All of this stuff is very memorable, even more so since it all happens to a group of kids while their parents are out of town, without a single grownup in sight to help. All of this stuff calls back easily to  the common elements that show up in our collective nightmares.

I liked the balance of small and epic. On one hand, you're dealing with 3 kids in one house with a hole in the backyard. On the other, you're dealing with a gateway to hell and unleashing demons that might lead to armageddon. But to the movie's credit, they never have to get the authorities involved or even really explain what exactly is going on. These kids just know they have to get it taken care of before Mom and Dad get home.