The Gates

Plot

A serial killer has been sentenced to death by electric chair in London in the 1890s, but in his final hours, he puts a curse on the prison he is in, and all of those in it.

Cast

Career villain Richard Brake who is severely wasted here alongside John Rhys-Davies who is just in wall to wall abysmal movies at this stage of his career. A deserved nod however to Michael Yare who was great here.

Verdict

The cover filled me with mixed emotions, Richard Brake? Fantastic, the rest? Amateurish. I thought hey even if it's bad at least Brake will deliver a great evil twisted psychotic performance as always and who doesn't love John Rhys-Davis!? Well, it actually managed to screw my first point up rather impressively. What do I mean by that? Well Brake is the antagonist certainly, but he's barely in the movie at all and when he is it's fleeting and he doesn't really speak at al. In fact honestly I'd be surprised if he has a dozen words of dialogue in the entire movie and isn't even on screen with kills either, his presence is pretty non-existent so that's a major flaw and blatant false advertising!

The setting is interesting, the concept though cliched is fairly engaging and the film does have a few well constructed moments. Sadly then it descends into the realm of the generic and hits you with a very weak ending that is simply lazy and uninspired.

The Gates isn't bad, it's just a shadow of it's potential and that's even worse.

Rants

I get the overwhelming impression lately that a lot of movies suffer with a writing issue that starts with a writer coming up with a concept and.......nothing else. They come up with the premise of a movie, but no middle, no end just the general concept. So we're hit with that, excited about where it's to go and then the quality dips offensively and ends uninspired like they had absolutely no ideas beyond the concept. I see it all the time and it's so frustrating, if writers could come up with more than the mere basis and create a full story that would be great. Otherwise you get The Gates!

The Good

Passable premise John Rhys-Davies Nice setting

The Bad

Brake is wasted Potential squandered badly Weak finale.

I'm honestly not sure what people don't like about this movie.

Because it is pretty damn good!

It's a period piece, that takes place in the late stages of the 19th century.

In a prison that has been cursed- and is haunted- by a satanic serial killer, who was caught, and put to death, prior to bringing his nefarious goals to fruition.

We find ourselves watching as a priest, ghostbusting expert, and two fledgling paranormal investigators, attempt to confront the demon, with hope they can get rid of the dark entity once and for all- using a combination of spiritual and scientific techniques.

So that it can't attach itself to someone, and escape the confines of the prison walls.

The demonic ghost of the killer has a sort of Exorcist meets Evil Dead vibe.

While the film, as a whole, is like a more dramatic version of Ghostbusters.

Either way...I thought that it was both well done, and highly entertaining!

Though, perhaps it's not what some people were looking for, or expecting.

That being said...it does seem to set itself up for a sequel.

So, if you liked it as much as I did.

You have that to look forward to, in the future.

A solid supernatural thriller, all around.

6 out of 10.

For a low-budget film, this one delivers superior production value and atmosphere! It's so nice to see a film that allows for the purely supernatural, without trying to explain everything in pseudoscience terms!

Good, also, to see old John Rhys-Davies in a starring role again! The principals all turn in fine performances, although a few of the lesser performers were truly atrocious (especially Lucien's associate!).

Richard Brake was a fine choice for the intensely evil William Colcott; he delivered a truly menacing performance!

All-in-all, if you don't expect too much from this modest-sized project, I think most people who appreciate a good gothic tale will find it surprisingly satisfying!

This one landed in a funny place for me...however, overall I enjoyed it (with the knowledge that I do have a bias for period horror lol). It was decently atmospheric and I saw a lot of potential in what they created.

The Gates was a bit of a roller coaster as I saw it. I continually found myself engaged and invested... and the next second I found myself being pulled out of the moment. I think that this was mainly attributed to the script, the acting and some scenery.

While the script wasn't awful by any means, I felt it a bit hokey and underdeveloped at times and certainly didn't do the actors any favors. The acting was extremely hit or miss here. By far the best of the bunch was the uncle. He carried a lot of the weight of what was successful here on his back. Along with some side characters such as some prisoners, the antagonist and the rogue wife. Unfortunately a lot of the other actors were not as successful. The main paranormal investigator guy and his buddy didn't do the production many favors either. The buddy was stiff as a board with extremely stilted delivery but as a side character, that wasn't as detrimental. The main one really had a lot of responsibility here due to the size and importance of his role... and he just didn't do it for me.

I know that it is super difficult and often times expensive to pull off a period piece so kudos for that. The majority of the time it looked really great and convincing. Unfortunately, occasionally our modern day shown through and I was pulled you out of the moment a bit.

I also think that the plot could've been refined a bit. The foundation definitely felt like it was there, but it lost its way at times and became a little convoluted. There were many subplots and interactions that got thrown to the side and felt unnecessary. I noticed this the most with the niece. By not having anything come to fruition with her mother or her potential gift... It almost made her character unnecessary. The ending also fell off the rails a bit and required a good amount of suspension of disbelief... and a bit of suspension of understanding as well.

Now, while I know this feels overwhelmingly negative... while viewing this, you will find that a lot of these issues don't seem to be super detrimental or particularly deterring (at least for me). Also many of these are pretty common while enjoying an indie horror and can be looked past.

I think they swung really big with this movie and while it wasn't 100% successful, I think they created something that was cool, decently entertaining and a production to generally be proud of. While I would love to round up, for me this gets a 5.5 rounding down to a 5, would recommend.

Throughout most of the performance, we watch the characters gracefully move around the stage, creating an exciting spectacle. The climax gradually grows closer to the finale, attracting our attention with the supernatural frenzy of an unsettled spirit belonging to an evil sorcerer. Out of nowhere, as if materializing from another world, the character "Maria" suddenly appears - why and for what purpose?... The humorous situation develops as rapidly as it ends :) But why was this introduced, you ask? :) - I don't know either :))) The otherworldly manifestation causes a whirlwind of demonic fun - a flickering light bulb built into a musical instrument turns out to be a powerful magical force :)))))) - hands grab the viewer's face, leaving him puzzled. What's going on here? - Even I ask myself this question with good reason :)))) Finally, the climax comes - a confrontation with a vile sorcerer. The characters use a glowing light bulb inside a musical instrument, and thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the actors, this brings wonderful "fruits" - the absurdity ends the performance, leaving the curtain down and not saying goodbye, subtly hinting at a future sequel. :)))) Admittedly, this scenario was conceived by artificial intelligence - I have no other explanation.