Rating: 
Summary: Made me dig for gold!!!
Review: After I saw this film, I went in my backyard and tried digging, then my mom yelled at me. Now I'm older and I am going to order this DVD. The movie is awesome, it's a classic in my mind.
Rating: 
Summary: Cult flick to the maximun!
Review: Cool as hell cheesy 80's film with some really awesome fx and stop animation monsters in the vain of "Demons", "House", "The Evil Dead series", "Critters", "trick or treat" or even "The Goonies". Young Stephen Dorff and his best friend accidentally open the gates of hell in their back yard and all hell breaks loose!! Now, their home is haunted by miniature ugly demons, zombies, monster, black magik, ghosts and Satan itself and the only way to stop evil from taking the world is by following the rules Metal!!!! the only way to save the world is by playing a satanic metal record backward and follow the rules. I first saw this movie almost 15 years ago, I was 12 and thought it was the coolest movie ever, now I'm 27 and some very cool memories were brought back...even dough it wasn't what I expected some very cool stuff still there. The Gate is not the best movie b-movie ever made, it's very far from it, but is not bad at all, I find it very cool and entertaining even if it has some very ugly and cheesy 80's fashion, dialogue and synth music, but what else could you expect from an 80's low budget B- movie. So give it a try and you will find a very entertaining flick with some very cool fx. Do not expect anything big, but for some great laugh and a good time sake, you should be very pleased.
Rating: 
Summary: Dorff on demons...
Review: He, he...sorry, I just couldn't resist using that title for my review....anyway, have you ever had the urge to dig a hole in the ground when you were a kid? I did and I did, have the urge, and dig a hole, that is...all I found was a ceramic pipe (which I accidentally cracked), but that was about it. Had I seen The Gate (1987) prior to digging that hole, I may have chosen not to, as there are things under the Earth best left undisturbed...
Directed by Tibor Takács, whose credits include mostly television work and a few films like I, Madman (1989) and Deathline (1997), a Rutger Hauer vehicle of little consequence (it was all downhill after his most excellent role as Roy Batty in the quintessential sci-fi film Blade Runner), The Gate stars Stephen Dorff, in his first movie role. His most notable appearance for me was in the vampire thriller Blade (1998), as the villainous, murderous Deacon Frost, who later became the Blood God (he was such a nice young boy, and now look at him...) . Also in the film is Christa Denton, who mostly appeared on television in the 80's, but also appeared in A Million Ways to Die (1986), a pretty good B-film worth checking out, and Louis Tripp, an actor of few credentials, but who can also be seen in the film Detroit Rock City (1999), as The Nerdy Kid (I'm not kidding, that's how it's listed).
The film opens with Glen (a very young Dorff) witnessing the removal of a large, old tree from the backyard of his parent's house. Soon after, Glen's friend Terry (Tripp) comes over, and the pair find part of a geode, a hollow, usually spheroidal rock with crystals lining the inside wall, in the up heaved Earth. Terry, ever the troublemaker (every neighborhood has one...he's the kid who kept bugs in jars to see how long they could live without air or tied firecrackers to cat's tails...we find out later the reason he `jest ain't right' is probably due to the fact his mother passed recently), talks Glen into digging up the yard to look for more geodes as Terry figures they could become rich as people paid good money for them, sometime `up to 100 bucks'. Ahh, to be young and ignorant...well, I'll settle for one as I'm loaded with the other...you decide which...anyway, as they dig, a huge hole opens up, and it turns out to be a portal to a realm of demons, but the portal has yet to be opened fully. That happens later, inadvertently, as certain events occurs, to which the boys determined this by reading the extensive liner notes on one of Terry's heavy metal albums (the band was called Sacrifix, with their main schtick being dabbling in the dark arts). Well, strange things begin happening, and activity from the hole increases, so I guess it's pretty lucky that Glen's parents are away for a few days, leaving him in the care of his sister, Al (Denton), short for Allison, I believe, because all hell is about to break loose, literally. So what do these pesky demons want? Why, to take control of the Earth, for their own nefarious purposes. Nice going Glen and Terry...I suppose you've doomed us all to eternal damnation and suffering with the pointy pitchforks to the nether regions and such, and I don't even want to think how you're going to explain all this to your parents when they come back...
The film was pretty well done, and much better than one might expect. The acting and dialogue seems a bit wooden and shallow at times, but there seems to be a real honesty and heart emanating from within the characters, and little or no attempt to `Hollywood' them up, trying to make them more than what they are...these are characters you could known, been friends with...the plot moves along nicely, and while there are a few holes here and there, I found none so large as to make me roll my eyes or drive a bus through. The movie has the effect of drawing you in, creating interest in the likeable characters (I felt empathy as Glen looked over some old photos of the family dog after it passed, reminiscing about a friend now gone. While meant to evoke an emotional response, it didn't appear to be an obvious attempt, which I appreciated). The special effects, while not state of the art, even back in 1987, were actually very professional, which is a bit surprising given the minimal budget I'm sure this film was working on...
I saw this film on cable back in the late 80's, and it kinda stuck with me. Why? It's hard to say. It wasn't terribly scary, or very bloody, but it does have its' charms. Maybe it's the sense that the movie isn't trying to be more than it is, forgoing the over-the-top theatrics for a bit of substance and its' general sense of overall fun. Also, I think the fact that most of the people working on and in this movie seemed to be at the beginning of their careers, and hadn't really had an opportunity to be subverted and perverted by the system, Hollywood, that is...there is a certain amount of predictability within the story, but it was easy to overlook, as the excitement the movie draws from the viewer is fairly constant, at least once the plot elements are established. The picture quality on this release is surprisingly good, but I was disappointed to see that only the full screen format was included on the disk. Also, there is nothing in the way of special features. All in all, this is a four star film, but given the lackluster release, I have go with a three star rating. By the by, there was a sequel to The Gate, released in 1992 called Gate II: The Trespassers, with only Tripp reviving his original role.
Cookieman108
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: horror movie buffs will love this movie. it is a great experience.
Rating:
Summary: Nightmares for years as a kid
Review: I have yet to see this movie as an adult, but i remember being aroung the age of 8 and being allowed to watch this by an uncle of mind babysitting one night, and i about wet myself. Nightmares were a regular occurance after that night. I'm sure as an adult that ill wonder what i was thinking back then, but if you are looking for a movie with effects before its time, this is the one. Great film.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie, adequate DVD, and cheap price! Awesome!
Review: I might be the opposite of most people who were disappointed by the movie after not having seen it in years. "I loved it as a kid," they say. Well, I saw it at the theater when I was a teenager, being seduced by the special-effects in the TV ads (it really looked cool, and the thought of a hole that leads to hell was awesome!), but I remember leaving the theater thinking: "Eh, it was okay."But then all these years later I'm flipping through cable late one night and saw the movie playing on TNT or TBS or something like that. I watched it and actually LOVED it more this time around than at the theater. I think nostalgia was a big factor. The movie oozes with 80's atmosphere, especially the girls and the little "party" they have at the house. The look of the movie is very 80's, and since I ache for those old days, I loved this movie. It's a cheesy little horror story, nothing too scary, nothing too demanding. It's great fun if you just allow yourself. Perfect for a Saturday night when nothing else good is on. The DVD itself is bare bones. It looks good, a lot better than my VHS copy. It has no special features, no commentary...nothing at all. And worst of all, it's presented in full screen. Full screen? What were they thinking? It's a horror movie, and all horror movie buffs love the theatrical aspect ratio. C'mon, horror movies should always be in widescreen on DVD! But so what, it's still a lot of fun, and best of all the DVD is cheap. I bought it for like 6 bucks at BestBuy.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie, adequate DVD, and cheap price! Awesome!
Review: I might be the opposite of most people who were disappointed by the movie after not having seen it in years. "I loved it as a kid," they say. Well, I saw it at the theater when I was a teenager, being seduced by the special-effects in the TV ads (it really looked cool, and the thought of a hole that leads to hell was awesome!), but I remember leaving the theater thinking: "Eh, it was okay." But then all these years later I'm flipping through cable late one night and saw the movie playing on TNT or TBS or something like that. I watched it and actually LOVED it more this time around than at the theater. I think nostalgia was a big factor. The movie oozes with 80's atmosphere, especially the girls and the little "party" they have at the house. The look of the movie is very 80's, and since I ache for those old days, I loved this movie. It's a cheesy little horror story, nothing too scary, nothing too demanding. It's great fun if you just allow yourself. Perfect for a Saturday night when nothing else good is on. The DVD itself is bare bones. It looks good, a lot better than my VHS copy. It has no special features, no commentary...nothing at all. And worst of all, it's presented in full screen. Full screen? What were they thinking? It's a horror movie, and all horror movie buffs love the theatrical aspect ratio. C'mon, horror movies should always be in widescreen on DVD! But so what, it's still a lot of fun, and best of all the DVD is cheap. I bought it for like 6 bucks at BestBuy.
Rating:
Summary: I remember this movie
Review: I remember seeing this movie when I was younger, and it was pretty good. I just found the DVD at a low price and could not resist buying it. A little hokey, but worth adding to your horror collection. Here is a description from the back of the box: When best friends Glen and Terry stumble across a mysterious crystalline rock in Glen's backyard, they quickly dig up the newly sodden lawn searching for more precious stones. Instead, they unearth The Gate - an underground chamber of terrifying demonic evil.
Rating:
Summary: When I was young....
Review: I saw this movie. The things that sitck out for me is the Barbie doll to the eye and the dead workers in the wall. It has a cult-flick feeling to it. And for some reason I'll always love this flick.
Rating:
Summary: Eerie!
Review: I watch this when I was about 8. It was scary when I watched it! But then the video store where I rented it closed down. I finaly found it at Circuit City! I watched it and it wasn't as good as when I saw it for the first time when I was 8 (I'm 13 now). I didn't notice the bad acting! Its still ok. Its better to watch it when your little. Its still eerie though.
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