The Gate (1987)

After finding a hole in his backyard, a teen and his friends learn the hole is a gateway to Hell and is unleashing diminutive demons upon their house-party and forces them to stop the creatures' evil plans.This was quite a fun and enjoyable kid-friendly effort. One of the better aspects here is the film does a rather fun job of building to the actual infestation of the demons as there's some cheesy scenes to really make this work. The hole's appearance at the very beginning and its contrived openings along with the discovery of the strange rocks starts this off rather well, and with the supernatural lights and party levitation tricks which all come along together very well. Best of all, this one manages to tie these factors into their true significance with a heavy metal record that not only gives them the final clue that something's going on but also the tactics needed to fully resolve the situation rather than what was commonly done at the time which meant being the root cause of it all simply for being loud and aggressive. This is pretty novel and unique which gives it some rather clever marks for its story that makes the resulting supernatural-themed action so fun as the effects of the gate opening weave throughout this. There's the creation of the second pit beneath the house, the abduction of their friends and the initial haunting dreams to go along with these scenes as well as the frantic finale which features everything from tiny demons crawling throughout the house to the fight against the multi-limbed monstrosity that appears at the end which provides this with plenty of rather enjoyable action-packed scenes that come off quite fun due to the supernatural bent to these scenes. Along with the rather appealing child-friendly storyline, there here are enough for this one to hold off the film's few problems that pop up in here. One of the bigger problems here is the fact that there's very little actual involvement of the main gateway towards the kids, as the main half here tends towards scenes involving them being home with their friends rather than anything of any significance against the titular gateway. The supernatural activity is kept to such a minimum that it really feels in a back-seat against the film's main point which is the teen angst drama of being unable to connect with his sister as she grows up as this particular storyline overwhelms the movie so much to the detriment the more horror-centered elements found in the second half the other flaw to this one is the absolutely banal and ridiculous special effects used for the demons here, with some really bad stop-motion photography that's jerky and obvious and just plain up-front about its origins which really tends to lower this one somewhat. Overall, these here are the film's flaws.Rated PG-13: Violence and Language.

A young boy Glen (Stephen Dorff) and his best pal Terry (Louis Tripp) discover a portal to a hellish world where the old gods have waited since the dawn of time to claim the Earth as their own; meanwhile, Glen's older sister Al (teen cutie Christa Denton) invites her friends over for a get-together blissfully unaware that demons are about to crash the party.With everything from a creepy telephone call, monstrous hands reaching from under a bed, ghostly moths, melting parents, a zombie in the walls, diminutive demon minions, a massive, multi limbed, four-eyed Lovecraftian beast, and even that hoary old horror cliché, a Satanic album revealing magical incantations when played backwards, The Gate is a messy hodge podge of tried and tested ideas tied together by that most uninspired of premises—the 'entrance to Hell'.Inconsequential fluff though it may be, the film still succeeds in being an enjoyable piece of family friendly horror thanks to its likable young cast and a whole slew of impressive pre-CGI special effects, including some excellent stop motion animation and clever use of forced perspective during the scenes involving the tiny minions (I always wondered how they did those—thanks IMDb!).6.5 out of 10, rounded up to a 7 for IMDb.

I would have never guessed in a million years that a PG-13 horror movie actually existed in the 80's. I knew horror was big then, but big enough to make a movie for the under eighteen? I was definitely going to have to watch The Gate.This fun, campy horror flick is about Glen (Stephen Dorff) and his best friend, Terry (Louis Tripp), accidentally finding a gateway to hell in Glen's backyard, and with the help from a rock band that had written songs about the gate, try to close it up. Unfortunately, all doesn't go that well. With Glen's parents gone for the weekend and his big sister, Al (Christa Denton), in charge, this can only mean one thing: demons.The downside about the demons, though? Well, actually there are two things. One, they're about the size of a newborn kitten, which sort of takes away what could have been something good and "scary" (though if you were about ten when watching this, it would have given you nightmares compared to anyone over thirteen.) However, considering it is a low-budget movie that does involve kids, I'm sure they couldn't make them too challenging of demons (they were actually rather stronger than you would have suspected!) The other downside is that it takes nearly fifty minutes for anything even remotely scary to happen (the very first incident is when long creature-looking arms are grabbing Al's leg from under a bed in Glen's room.) After that, the movie becomes a wonderful roller coaster ride, but then the ride slows down and before you know it, it's time to get off.When the bed scene is over we actually get a little – and I do mean just a little – gore! Now I'm not talking gore as in The Thing, but the gore was good enough for the movie and to not make anyone queasy. As far the special effects go, today they would have been considered "bad", but for the era back then they're actually rather decent. The kids do a satisfying job on their acting, especially Louis Tripp! This is definitely a classic any fan of the 80's must see!

Alright, this movie turned me off from the beginning when I have to watch the dog die. Then the little kid (Stephen Dorff) is looking at a photo album with puppy pictures. Bring on the demons, please! Well, it did have some really cool looking creatures, and the special effects were good. When the guy living in the wall transformed, it was hilarious.The ending was a bit over the top, but at least it ended well for the dog.You can usually count on Tibor Takács to do an entertaining "B" movie, and he doesn't disappoint here.Cheesy high school dialog, very little gore, and the only nudity was on the creatures.