The Bell Keeper

The storyline in "The Gate Keeper", as written by Joe Davison and Luke Genton, was actually a fair enough script and storyline, which felt like something you'd see in a 1980s horror movie. And I have to admit that I liked that about it, as it was a nice touch to the movie.

The movie even had the classic hiker out looking for a lost sibling, complete with a missings person flyer and all. That was definitely a nod towards the tropes often seen in 1980s and 1990s horror movies.

The acting performances in "The Bell Keeper" were actually good. I can't claim to be thrilled about having the likes of Randy Couture on the cast list, and in such a pivotal role nonetheless, as I never did take a liking to him or his acting skills. There were a couple of familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Mike Manning and Bonnie Aarons. I will say that the actors and actresses, in general, put on good performances throughout the course of the movie.

"The Bell Keeper" is the type of horror movie that you watch once, then bag and tag it, never to bring it out for a second viewing. While it was an adequately watchable movie, it was by no means a scary horror movie. And I think that was mainly because of the non-distinct killer that the Hank character (played by Randy Couture) was.

My rating of "The Gate Keeper" lands on an four out of ten stars.

Not much of a plot here.. all we really need to know is that there is a cursed bell that random adventurers go and ring, and that's bad. A dude named Hank with a cauliflower ear is gonna kill those in range to hear it. There is a reason for all this, but you have to watch it to find out why. It's pretty cheap, draggy and nonsensical, but it does have just enough quirkiness to keep it mildy entertaining. We have Randy Couture, with a straight forward performance, and a quick run in with Bonnie Aarons (The Nun) being the most fun. The Liam and Brittany characters were decent, the Sheriff being the worst. Couture groupies might like this the most.

Randy Couture in the starring role, the plot revolves around a bell keeper. This movie was painstakingly boring. A waste of my time, I enjoy a good horror film but this was pure dribble on a modest budget. Couture could do so much better, or maybe he should just stick to wrestling. I am hoping he puts out better movies, because this flop is not going to break any box office records. The acting was sub par from all involved, but I am glad too see Chaz Bono in some of these horror movies. I blame the writers & directors, Couture needs to do a well written zombie movie. That might help his career.

It's kind of hard to forge a decent horror film, when the concept is to make a cheap pastiche, based on an idiotic premise.

The whole thing is effectively a mash-up of Evil Dead and Knock At The Cabin - which is an act of blasphemy in itself.

And tries way too hard to force a horror-comedy angle into the storyline...which just doesn't work.

Because it makes the whole thing seem confused about what it wants to be.

Does it want to be a comedy? Or serious horror?

One can only assume they've tried to make it the best of both worlds.

However, these two different paths mix like oil and water in this example.

With the crux of the storyline coming off extremely forced at best.

It's just not a very good film.

But I guess that's what you get when you try to emulate a hack like Shyamalan.

It's not surprising that this was made by the same director who brought us the travesty that is Snow Falls (among other awful 2023 releases).

And while it might not be as bad as that film...it's still pretty bad.

2 out of 10.

You can fast forward to the gas station scene, watch that, then ff to about the 30 minute mark when they get to the campsite.

Then this flic gets good, scary, gory, bloody, an unexpected twist, and even some one line humor that had me laughing out loud.

Overall a pretty decent low budget movie... I give it 7 outta 10.

You can fast forward to the gas station scene, watch that, then ff to about the 30 minute mark when they get to the campsite.

Then this flic gets good, scary, gory, bloody, an unexpected twist, and even some one line humor that had me laughing out loud.

Overall a pretty decent low budget movie... I give it 7 outta 10.