The Gate (1987 film)

The Gate
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tibor Takács
Produced by	John Kemeny
Written by	Michael Nankin
Starring	Stephen Dorff Louis Tripp Christa Denton
Music by	Michael Hoenig J. Peter Robinson
Cinematography	Thomas Vámos
Edited by	Rit Wallis
Distributed by	New Century Vista Film Company
Release dates	May 15, 1987 (1987-05-15)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States Canada
Language	English
Budget	$2.5 million
Box office	$13,539,458[1]

The Gate is a 1987 American-Canadian independent supernatural horror film directed by Tibor Takács and starring Stephen Dorff in his film debut. The plot concerns two young boys accidentally releasing a horde of demons from their backyard; a large hole serving as a gateway for the demons to dominate the Earth.

The film was released on May 15, 1987 by New Century Vista Film Company. Since its release, it has obtained a cult following and was followed by a sequel in 1990 titled The Gate II: Trespassers.

Plot

12-year-old Glen (Stephen Dorff) awakens from a nightmare of him returning to his home abandoned, and into his treehouse where it is struck by lightning and collapses. In his backyard, a group of workers have cut down a tree and a fragment of a geode has been unearthed. Glen returns with his older friend Terry to investigate. Though the workers have attempted to fill the hole left by the tree, Glen and Terry breach the surface and uncover a large geode. In the process, Glen catches a splinter and leaves a small bit of blood behind.

With Glen's parents leaving town for three days, they leave his 16-year-old sister Alexandra ("Al") in charge. Al decides to throw a party. Upstairs, Terry and Glen break open the geode upon discovering that it has left strange writing on a notepad, and reads the incantations aloud. They go downstairs just as the party-goers have begun playing a levitation game, from then everyone is shocked when they successfully levitate Glen.

That night, Glen sees his bedroom wall stretching, and Terry embraces a heavenly apparition of his dead mother which turns out to be Glen's dog Angus, who dies as a result. The next day, Terry brings a heavy metal album to Glen's house with lyrics based on "The Dark Book". He believes that the hole in Glen's backyard is a gateway to the domain of evil gods, and speculates that their actions from the previous day started the process. He concludes that the only missing element would be to deposit a sacrifice into the hole. Unknown to them, a friend of Al's has already dumped Angus into the hole, completing the summoning. After reading a section from "The Dark Book" that is supposed to close the Gate, the boys find the hole has closed and assume their efforts were successful.

That night, a swarm of moths shatter Glen's bedroom window, and Angus' corpse is found in Terry's bed. Demonic arms try to pull Al under the bed, and Terry and Glen barely save her. They attempt to flee the house, but are greeted outside by Glen and Al's parents, who are actually disguised demons. After returning to the house Al volunteers to inspect the yard, but the others see it swarming with small demons and call her back. Terry leads everyone to the basement to retrieve "The Dark Book", but it bursts into flames. They then attempt to stop the creatures by reading the Bible, in which Terry reads from Psalm 59 and the hole seems to close, but he slips and falls into the hole where he is attacked by the demons before Al and Glen pull Terry out. Terry reads from Genesis, but ultimately throws the Bible into the hole, causing an explosion where the hole appears sealed and knocking them unconscious.

That night, a wall breaks open and a construction worker's corpse falls through. Before Glen wonders about the worker being buried in the house's walls, the worker pulls Terry into the wall, which seals behind him. Upstairs, Al notices a hazy image of the construction worker in her mirror before Glen bursts into Al's bedroom. Al throws a stereo at him and he disintegrates into dozens of little demons. Al holds the bedroom door shut while Glen races downstairs to find their father's gun. A demonic version of Terry appears and bites his hand, before Al assists Glen and stabs Terry in the eye. Al and Glen hide in a closet, but the construction worker breaks through an interior wall. Al fires a shot into his head upon no effect and drags her away.

Glen realizes that Terry and Al represent the two human sacrifices that would fully open the gate. He also realizes that the rocket Al intended to give him for his birthday (a symbol of love, light and purity) is the only thing that can stop the rise of the Old Gods. He makes his way upstairs just before the floor collapses, revealing a chasm beneath the house. Glen retrieves the rocket and attempts to launch it, but the matches keep blowing out. The wind sucks Glen onto the foyer, where a giant serpentine demon emerges. The demon pats Glen on the head, touches his hand, and returns to the hole. Glen discovers that the demon's touch has placed an eye in the palm of his hand, causing him to stab the eye where he then struggles to descend the staircase, at which point the demon re-emerges. Glen uses a battery-powered launcher to fire his rocket into the demon, causing the demon to explode and dispelling the dark clouds above the house.

Glen returns to the house. Angus emerges from the front closet, seemingly restored to life. He is followed by Terry and Al, also unhurt. The kids worry about how to explain the wreckage of the house to their parents.

Cast

• Stephen Dorff as Glen
• Christa Denton as Al
• Louis Tripp as Terry Chandler
• Kelly Rowan as Lori Lee
• Jennifer Irwin as Linda Lee
• Carl Kraines as The Workman

Reception

Critical response

Reception to The Gate was mixed from film critics. The film currently has a 43% approval rating with an average rating of 5.1/10 based on 7 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

References

External links

• The Gate at the Internet Movie Database
• The Gate at AllMovie
• The Gate at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Gate at Box Office Mojo