The Ninth Gate (1999)

This movie deserve credit. It has great cast, a great plot, but questionable critiques. Johnny Depp plays rare book collector Dean Corso. Very articulate with his job. Very cutthroat as well. He gets the books cheap, and sells to the highest bidder. But a client name Boris Balkan(Frank Langella) gives him a opportunity he will never forget. He gets to check out and compare 3 books written by the Devil. One of them is exact and the others are forgeries. One is made by the author who committed suicide, and the widow(Lena Olin) tries to get it back from Corso. In New York, Corso gives the book to the owner of the rare bookstore. He would keep it save after he was killed. Corso goes to Spain where another man is drowned. But Corso isn't alone, he would encounter a mysterious woman(Emmanuelle Seigner) who seems to help him all the way. The movie was long, but it wasn't boring. Plenty of suspense. It was amazing when the widow got the book back and tried to do the ritual with the book, but is killed by Balkan and he scared off the Satan worshippers. The great parts of the scenes is when Balkan tried to make himself loyal to Satan, but when he sets himself ablaze, he got what he deserved, betrayed. The background of the castle on fire, makes a perfect setting for the sex scene between the Girl and Corso. Memorable to say the least. There are some good and bad points on this film. But to me, it was worth my while. 4 out of 5 stars

I'm a huge Roman Polanski fan and not necessarily of his most famous works. Frantic and The Ghost Writer are among my all-time favorites. This film does not have the story and intrigue of those films, but it is interesting as a mystery. The ending is pretty dumb and unsatisfying; however, the journey there is satisfying and enjoyable. Worth a watch. I rate it a 7 out of 10.

I can't think of a film where I wanted so much for it to succeed yet witnessed absolute failure. The book, the Dumas Club: Ninth Gate, is comfortably between mass junk Da Vinci Code, and if you are not well read, the sublime but less approachable, Foucault Pendulum. And a book detective is a great set up. But the film is terrible. Firstly, I am sorry but Emmanuelle Seigner can NOT act. She just can't. Her sole skill seems to be that she has put up with Polanski as his wife. Lena Olin, Langela and Depp tend toward campy acting, but in the right circumstances can be terrific. In this case their camp is not subdued but amplified and the result is embarrassing. Do yourself a favor: With exactly the first half of the film and then switch it off never to return. Any idiot can imagine a better ending than the mess this descends into.

superb occult horror film , with a good solid cast - fantastic direction from Roman Polanski - deep story line - however as a bibliophile , most of my concentration was concerned with the book collections of the people Johnny Depp tracked down , in his quest to find the remaining copies of the ninth gate & I must admit I did shudder at the thought of how they handled the rare books , but as a horror movie it lived up to all expectations , and was quite fast moving from start to finish , I will be settling down with a couple of beers and a friend , to watch it again very soon.