Right, well as I stumbled upon the 2012 horror movie "House of Horrors: Gates of Hell" here in 2023, I opted to give the movie a chance without ever having heard about it. I didn't know what I was in for here, aside from it being a horror movie. But given the movie's somewhat dubious title, I have to admit that I wasn't harboring much of any high hopes or expectations.
Writer and director Daniel Monroe delivered a fairly weak script for the movie, because the storyline was so simplistic that it was bordering on being non-existing. Essentially the script here calls for you to just lean back, munch on some snacks and disconnect your brain, and watch a horror movie.
However, as for being a horror movie, then I have to say that the thin and weak storyline didn't exactly help to manifest "House of Horrors: Gates of Hell" as being a proper horror movie. Sure, there were some pretty nice props, some good costumes and creature designs, but there wasn't anything scary to be enjoyed throughout the 90 minutes that the movie ran for.
I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble, and while the movie definitely had a tinge of amateurish feel to it, I will say that the performances in the movie were fair enough, taking into consideration the severe limitations imposed by a weak script and storyline.
If you opt to sit down to watch "House of Horrors: Gates of Hell", then do so for the props, costumes and creature designs, because the storyline is not worth it. And if you watch it on account of it being a scary horror movie, you will be sorely disappointed.
While I am not going to spoil the ending here, I have to say that the ending that writer and director Daniel Monroe opted to go with here, was one of the worst and most laughable endings in a movie I have suffered through in a long, long time.
My rating of writer and director Daniel Monroe's 2012 movie "House of Horrors: Gates of Hell" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.
