Review of The Gate (1987) by Jason D — 16 Aug 2009

The Gate is pure 80's horror fun about a brother Glen (then child star Stephen Dorff) and sister Al (Christa Denton) who uncover a portal to a demonic underworld in a hole in their back yard. When their parents go out of town and friend Terry (Louis Tripp) comes over for the night, they unwittingly open the gate and unleash a ton of evil that makes their night a living hell.

As I stated previously, The Gate is pure 80's fun that delivers some pretty genuine thrills and chills (especially when you are a young impressionable kid watching this movie as I was) with effects that once wowed me at such a young age yet seem laughable by today's standards.

All three kids manage to deliver some decent performances and add further enjoyment to this often forgotten cult horror film. The film was directed by Tibor Takacs whom I thought would only get bigger after making this film, but wound up sticking to this formula and continues to deliver straight to DVD C-grade horror (Ice Spiders, Mega Snake, etc), which is too bad because this film really showcased his talents.

It's certainly a fun and engaging move that deserves to be rediscovered again, which I'm sure it will when the eventual remake comes out. This is a blast to watch for me because I dig these kinds of movies so much! If you're not a fan of cornball 80's horror movies, don't waste your time with this because you'll just be a douche and screw up the rating system on this.