Le porte dell'inferno

Firstly that title: 'The Hell's Gate' makes no sense gramatically. I can't believe not one person involved with this film from conception to completion actually realised the english translation surely should've been 'The Gate To Hell'? ...On the other hand having now watched it, yes I can believe that.

Lenzi went to a lot of interesting places in his movie career, from the cannibal jungles to the crime ridden streets of Italy, but this detour into 'haunted underground caves' territory could be his all time low point, pun intended. Random guys wandering round a cave for 90 minutes, and occasionally dying. The end. I don't expect David Lynch or Coen Bros levels of complexity and nuance when watching a Lenzi film, but I was amazed at how babyish this was in every way. A ten year old could draft a more sophisticated plot and script in half an hour, guaranteed.

I couldn't find an english dubbed version so no amusement at any bad dubbing could be had, and I'm not a fan of subtitles generally either so that proved an extra chore, making The Hell's Gate a horrible viewing experience all round - but throughout his career Lenzi occasionally created totally mad classics, so I had to see this just in case it was one of them. It wasn't.