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Studio: Lionsgate
Release Date: 5/14/2024 – Walmart Exclusive
Rating: PG-13
Film Grade: C
The Story: Young Glen watches as a tree is removed from his backyard noticing that the process has revealed a geode. He shows it to his friend, Terry, who says that they’re worth a lot of money and they should dig for more. That digging turns up a much larger stone, but it also uncovers something else – a demonic portal leading to the evil inhabitants who have been waiting for the exact right moment and circumstance to unleash themselves upon the earth.
My Take: I skipped this movie when it first came out, since it looked like a kiddie film, with its PG-13 rating and all. I’ve mellowed since then, becoming more receptive towards films that aren’t necessarily aimed at my age group. So, I went into this movie dropping any prejudice with regards to age.
That said, the film is clearly aimed at a young audience, and it was hard for me to relate to it. That’s not on a simple visceral level; the reduced levels of blood and gore were just fine, and perfectly suited to the rating. What I couldn’t connect to was the structure of the story itself. It feels more like a series of set pieces that are roughly connected to each other rather than a cohesive narrative. The result are some scenes that are really well-done and interesting, but they’re surrounded by others that have a different pace and feel, often dragging the story to a halt.
This may be the result of the script being toned down considerably from the original, much darker, version. This was a concession made for financial reasons, and one wonders what might have been had it been left intact. My speculation is that as those sinister segments were eliminated, they may have been replaced by more mundane and benign content to fill out the runtime.
Considering the cast is made up almost entirely of kids, they do a great job with the material. This was the movie debut of Stephen Dorff, who plays Glen with a wide range of emotions from plucky to melancholy. Louis Tripp is the nerdy, heavy metal loving Louis, giving him a balance of smarts and more curiosity than is good for him. Christa Denton rounds out the main cast, portraying Alexandra as a young teenager finding herself drifting toward her older classmates and away from little brother Glen. That change in their relationship form a large part of the storyline, and bring in some humanity.
The real standout in this movie were the special effects. The team employed a series of techniques that blend remarkably well, including stop motion, matte paintings, optical effects, miniatures, and forced perspective. The last one is what left the greatest impression on me. There are scenes with full-sized extras placed far from the main actors and the resulting shot creates the perfect illusion of 15” tall creatures. Considering this was a low-budget Canadian production, what shows up on the screen far exceeds the budget of the film.
Video: The transfer is good but not great. Grain is preserved, but there are some noticeable spots of dirt and other flaws. Still, I’d take those over waxy scrubbing any day. The HD transfer does show some flaws, such as the gatefold insert of a significant rock album; you can clearly see that pictures were put over the top of other text as sentences are cut off. This was never meant to be read by the audience, and one would be hard pressed to notice if it weren’t for the pause button. The disc does reveal just how good those special effects are. Even critical viewing makes the force perspective scenes hard to pick apart.
Audio: The disc features the original stereo track; no remix here. Dialog was clear, the soundtrack has an electronic score that ranges from foreboding to exciting. It’s a good representation of what horror movies sounded like back then and it still holds up today. There’s not a lot in the line of jump scares or other atmospheric sounds, but it works well enough for the film.
Special Features: This disc is loaded, and you can feel just how much love there was for it from the people that put it together. There are a wide range of interviews, and the viewer will gain insight to the making of the film, from the writing to the financing and production side of things to the wonderful special effects. This is a fantastic example of how to enhance a fan’s love of a film.
• Audio Commentaries
o Director Tibor Takacs, Writer Michael Nankin, and Special Effects Designer & Supervisor Randall William Cook
o Special Effects Designer & Supervisor Randall William Cook, Special Make-Up Effects Artist Craig Reardon, Special Effects Artist Frank Carere, and Matte Photographer Bill Taylor
• Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview
• Featurettes:
o The Gate: Unlocked
o Minion Maker
o From Hell It Came
o The Workman Speaks!
o Made in Canada
o From Hell: The Creatures & Demons of The Gate
o The Gatekeepers
o Vintage Featurette: Making of The Gate
• Teaser Trailer
• Theatrical Trailer
Final Verdict: The Gate has become a cult favorite since it’s original release. Geared toward young teens, it didn’t really work for me, but I can see how fans from the original release would love to revisit it and share it with their kids.
The exclusive SteelBook packaging should appeal to collectors, with the distinctive font found on the striking original movie poster combined with the memorable creatures from the feature. It's encouraging that studios are repackaging these older titles and giving fans another chance to pick them up.
If you haven’t seen it before and like older horror movies, I recommend giving it a watch. Just keep in mind it was intentionally toned down for a younger audience. And if you’re interested in what went into the production of a small budget horror film from almost four decades ago, those extras are well worth watching.
Fun Fact: The Gate was released the same weekend as the notorious flop, Ishtar. It was a close second-place showing but considering that its budget was less than 10% of the Warran Beatty/Dustin Hoffmann vehicle, it was deemed a remarkable success for that time.
My Review System:
JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Oppo BDP-93
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup