Beyond the Gates

I really wanted to like this but I gave up with 30 minutes left. The acting and writing is horrible. The story is boring. The characters are bland.

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.

Okay, not for the youngsters that are used to see horrors from nowadays. This one is just a throwback to the horrors of the early eighties and the late seventies. Not to be classified under slasher.

That said some will leave this for what it is but for the old geeks it is still hard to watch it and I don't mean it in part of gore but it has a lot of talking going on especially in the beginning what makes it hard to watch and not to use the fast forward (no pun intended). It's towards the end like in those flicks from back then that the real horror comes in. I must say that some effects are ridiculously funny, not intended. Some do reveal that the head being smashed is a puppet. But others are well done too.

The story wasn't my thing and I had problems with all the talking but knowing that it is a low budget I can dig it somehow. Nice to see Barbara Crampton (Re animator) back.

Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 1,5/5 Comedy 0/5

The film for me was really slow I was hoping for a horror type jumanji type board game and I just found the acting and story really lame. Halfway through I just stopped watching although it was on in the background. It maybe worth a watch for some But prepare for disappointment. The fist part starts out quite promising I love the old VHS stores and tenses me of being a kid myself, the creepy keyboard 80s style music was good and the images on google for the movie have a definite 80s vibe and i think that's what got me excited. With the lady from Heroes in the movie I expected it to be quite good with her being from a top show but found her to be really bland and boring . Could have been a good movie as the idea of a horror board game is one that excites me however the writers didn't do it justice nor did the actors in my opinion .

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.