Beyond the Gates

If you love horror, you must love the eighties. That's almost a given thing. Have you noticed how, recently, homages and references towards 80s horror aren't just used as a gimmick anymore? 80s throwback horror has now even become an entire sub genre on itself! The successful show "Stranger Things", and the remake of Stephen King's "It", are undoubtedly the most famous examples, but there are many other equally enjoyable but slightly more obscure titles as well, like "Summer of 84", "You might be the Killer" and "The Final Girls". "Beyond the Gates" also qualifies in this category, with a good old-fashioned video store setting, a phenomenally catchy synthesizer soundtrack and an authentic contemporary scream-queen in the shape of the wondrous Barbara Crampton.

The plot can shortly, simply and aptly be described as an amalgam between "Jumanji" and "Hellraiser". Two estranged brothers gather in the abandoned video store of their missing father, and in the back room they stumble upon an interactive VHS + board game called "Beyond the Gates". The game's hostess, the still-ravishing Mrs. Crampton, addresses herself directly to the brothers via the screen, and they soon realize that playing the game will lead to solving the mystery of their father's disappearance. But, at what cost?

I can safely say that I like "Beyond the Gates" a lot more than most people. I really dug the moody and borderline melancholic atmosphere, and the unknown (to me, at least) actress Bea Grant is terrific as the oldest brother's girlfriend. Admittedly, the film is heavily flawed. The pacing is incredibly slow, and particularly the first three quarters are very uneventful. Apart from the three main characters, and Barbara on TV, there are also very few supportive characters, so it's not too difficult to foretell who dies and who survives. But hey, the body count may be low, but at least they die spectacularly and quite gruesomely! Most of all, though, check out the soundtrack! Me, I left the DVD-menu playing for an additional two hours, just I could hear that great tune in the background.

To get it out of the way - i rated the movie a 4/10 for being pretty forgettable.

But that does not mean i do not appreciate some things it tried to do. It does however fall with its totally and utterly ridiculous story; a story that is so silly that it most probably is intentional. In short - the story feels like one of those cheap books that tells you to keep on reading on a certain page once you made a decision or like an amateurish table-top-rpg - all along with actors that both underact and overact. (kind of like many roleplayers i feel) Then there are the character archetypes that are so flat and one dimensional... they do not have a sliver of personality about them; and of course a story that lacks any logic.

Once you get that out of the way - you can start to appreciate some neat details though. There is a certain 90s vibe going on, which is dismissed by the rather modern still shots in many scenes. There is some 90s colouring and scenes - and then again more modern ones.

There is what feels like a certain homage to Lynch movies (curio shop owner and camera works in that shop) and some raw, low budget slasher core movies.

The tone of the movie itself is almost somber with extreme gore sprinkled in (that mostly looks deliciously fake) The dialogue consists of meaningless one liners for the most part - and the actors hardly act scene-appropriate.

But the movie actually was kind of funny to watch - utterly forgettable but fun - in all its cheesiness. And sometimes one wants to watch some cheese i guess.

However - i cannot recommend it. Maybe as part of a horror video night with friends (and alcohol...) There are "gems" in the movie that certain people may love and appreciate though. It has a very narrow target audience. (i am not it) But if you are - you may well very much enjoy it.

Horror movies are my favorite movies. My wife gets tired of me suggesting them. So it had been a week or so and we decided to give Beyond the Gates a spin.

I understand some of the negative reviews. The pace of the first half is a little slow, but the character development and plot are still interesting enough. The acting can be wooden at times, sure. The 80's feel to modern day is somewhat puzzling, but since it's all about a video store, forgivable.

The two requirements I have for horror movies is that they have to at least be a little scary and they have to be fun. This movie succeeds at both.

The actress who plays the host for Beyond the Gates knocks it out of the park. Her performance is one I won't soon forget - creepy and diabolical.

The overall feel of the movie reminded both my wife and I of the recent Creepy Pasta adaptation Channel Zero: Candle Cove which was just about the same level of scary and fun.

Give this one a go, it's worth a watch for sure.

It was an okay movie. I did like the effort and obvious affection for the Retro 1980's Horror vibe, and of course it is Always nice to see Barbara Crampton.

Heh, I thought that was funny that the three characters all said in effect, 'Who's the babe!' : ) I guess with Crampton being one of the executive producers, she might've had some sway in the dialog department. But hey, don't get me wrong, she still looks pretty dang good!

So, about the movie... The characters were fine, nothing stellar or Oscar worthy, but decent for the type of low budget Horror movie that it is. Some nice practical effects, some good atmosphere and lighting.

But, all 'n' all, still even with those nice trimmings the film is rather average. Not terrible by any means, just rather simple and straightforward.

I think the one weakness which brought it down a little was the pacing. I mean, I know it has a runtime of only about 1:22 with credits, but I'm thinking that the director deliberately drew out many of the pauses a bit long, maybe to pad out the time a little. Nothing awful, but I feel that if they had maybe put a tad more thought into enriching the background or Mythology or added a little more depth instead, that would have made it more effective.

Like I say, not too bad, kinda fun, kinda Retro Horror. I Did really like the Retro soundtrack I will say. So, as long as you are not expecting too terribly much, there are far, Far worse ways to spend your time.

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Just a note as to how I do my reviews... I usually don't repeat the basic plot since almost everyone else does that (Claudio Carvalho is an excellent example of this. He writes about 6 paragraphs of a synopsis, and then adds maybe 2 sentences as an actual review... :/ ) and you can get the basic synopsis from a bunch of other places, to me that is a waste of time and honestly is not that helpful. So, what I concentrate on in my reviews is hopefully putting across whether I think it is a Good film, or if I think that it is an Entertaining movie and what I feel it's strengths and weaknesses are in the way it is made.

That way, Hopefully it will be of more benefit and actual help to others as to whether I feel it is worth watching (and also perhaps what 'Type' of film it is and what type of people may enjoy it)

My Particular Way of Rating:

5 - Flawed, but perhaps with a little entertainment value here and there for some.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

It has the vibes of Hellraiser and some of Fulci's "Gates of Hell" trilogy, mixed with some obvious similarities to Jumanji (though purely owing to the subject matter) but with some nice comic touches, which allows the movie to get away with a few of its budgetary constraints.

Our central characters, Gordon, John and Margot, play a retro VHS board game and unlock a gateway to some dark netherworld, in an attempt to discover what happened to Gordon's missing father. Needless to say opening such portals can only lead to trouble!

Fortunately for us, trouble of the gruesome kind.

The film is very much an homage and tribute to many things from a previous generation of entertainment, such as the board game, the VHS rental store and some cool gore effects which nod to the era of the video nasty. This is its strongest element because the story and setting is a tad threadbare, without feeling amateurish.

Fans of the genre and such from-the-heart productions are bound to enjoy what this film has to offer as it nicely projects the infectious sense of fun and creativity that led its creators to make the film in the first place.

It's not going to change the world of horror as we know it but I bet it will inspire other startup movie-makers to make that movie they have in them.