Beyond the Gates

Retro horror 'Beyond the Gates' continues the fun trend of 80's throwbacks with just about everything you'd expect: synth score, neon-heavy visuals, and practical gore effects.

It's about two brothers who find a VHS board game in their missing father's video store. When played, the real world and a nightmarish dimension collide, forcing the brothers to complete some blood-spattered objectives in order to free their father's soul trapped in the game.

Unfortunately, as awesome as that premise sounds, the board game isn't as well utilised as it could have been; nor are it's concepts explored thoroughly or explained. The film also features typically implausible horror movie behaviour as the game supernaturally alters to fit the players' lives and otherworldly things just happen to push the story onwards.

But despite that shortcoming, this is still an enjoyable homage to 80's gorefests, with enough character development to forgive the plot's slow and teasing unfurling, some delightfully grisly violence, and a cracking score that bolsters its aesthetic.

6/10

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

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.

Two estranged brothers, Gordon (Graham Skipper) and John (Chase Williamson), reunite to liquidate the assets of their missing father's video store. As they sort out the contents of the shop, the brothers discover a strange old VHS board game—Beyond the Gates—that seems to have some connection with their dad's disappearance. Together with Gordon's girlfriend Margot (Brea Grant), they pop the game's tape into the player and are greeted by a mysterious woman (scream queen Barbara Crampton) who guides them through the horror that ensues.

Take the basic premise of Jumanji and give it a horror twist, and what you have is Beyond the Gates, except that Jumanji was, and still is, a whole lot of fun (despite some horribly dated CGI effects), whereas Beyond the Gates is a crushing bore for most of its running time, with long periods where absolutely nothing of interest occurs (the first 45 minutes are a real test of patience). About the only things the film has in its favour are a few decent gore effects (best being an exploding cranium), a cool synth score, and Grant's impressive rack (the actress wears a tight vest but fails to do a Crampton, keeping those puppies under wraps).

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.