The Gate

The Gate

1987

Director- Tibor Takács

Cast- Stephen Dorff, Christa Denton, Louis Tripp, Kelly Rowan, Jennifer Irwin

            This is one of the more entertaining horror movies of the late 1980s. It’s not

particularly scary, being more of a tale of children in peril than anything, but absent are most of the annoying heartstring pulls present in most child-centric stories.

            Glenn and Terry (an impossibly young Stephen Dorff and Louis Tripp) are the text book Generation X kids of the late 80s, namely latch key kids that raise themselves, Glenn with the help of his older sister, Al (Christa Denton). Terry who lives in a house with no parents, is comical. He looks to be about 12 but wears a vest with a pentagram on it. Admit it, we all knew that kid. Hell, some of us were that kid. Even though Stephen Dorff became the big star later in life, it’s Louis Tripp’s performance that sells the story.

In a series of events too silly to describe, they accidentally open a gateway to Hell in their backyard and demons start seeping through. The movie starts slow, but once the Gate is fully open, it gets real weird real fast. There is so much creative imagery here; a kid getting his eye stabbed out with a Barbie doll leg, another kid stabbing out an eyeball in his hand, parents with melting faces, an undead workman trapped in the walls of the house, a giant four armed creature rising from the pit and of course, the stars of the show, the army of miniature demon minions.

I saw this on VHS in 1987 or 88 and didn’t watch it again for 30 years. I forgot everything about the film EXCEPT the demon minions. For those who’ve seen Subspecies, you know what I mean, except these minions looked a whole lot better.

This film should be watched as an appreciation for filmmakers trying to do something creative, and succeeding despite a low budget and lack of established star power. The Gate didn’t recycle boring horror cliches; it went in its own direction. Sometimes it didn’t make sense and sometimes it was silly, but it was entertaining throughout.

The Gate 2: Trespassers

1990

Director- Tibor Takács

Cast- Louis Tripp, Pamela Adlon, Simon Reynolds, James Villemaire

           

    A few years have passed since the events of the last film. Glenn has moved on to greener pastures but Terry remains in suburbia. He has become a bit of an amateur demonologist in his studies of The Gate. He plans to call upon the Unholy Trinity who reside on the other side of The Gate and harness their power to make some much needed changes in his life. His ritual is interrupted, and then joined, by three teenagers; John, his girlfriend Liz, and his flunky Moe.

            Rather than an Unholy Trinity, a measly Minion is summoned, which Terry keeps imprisoned in his bed room. The four teens, as a part of the ritual make wishes and lo and behold the wishes come true. Of course, you can’t depend on the powers of darkness and the dreams start turning to shit; literally. What’s worse, it seems maybe the Unholy Trinity are going to show up after all but not in the expected way. Terry has to take a trip to the other side of The Gate to deal with the mess he has created.

            The sequel is closer to a horror movie than the original but is more of an allegory than anything. The performances of the 4 principal actors were convincing and it’s a little surprising that Louis Tripp didn’t go on to bigger success, at least in the genre world. Pamela Aldon (billed as Pamela Segall), of course went onto a very successful career as a comedic actress and voice actress with major roles in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, The Animatrix, and (this knocked my socks off) the voice of Bobby Hill in King of the Hill. Just let that sink in.

            Special note, this is one of the first movies I know of that had a post credits scene.