The Gate

A recent group of extreme mutations leading to death has triggered a parliamentary enquiry which is looking back on the 3 notable cases, their handling and ways to prevent this in the future.

This short film has been slated to be developed into a feature so perhaps it will have another stab at making this work, but for the short film it is really at its best when viewed as a pitch. This is not because it lazily just wheels out effects shots, but rather because the attempt to make an effective narrative doesn't really work. The framing of the parliamentary committee only half works although in fairness it takes a lot of pressure off the structure of the short film given the running time. What we get is a series of very well done effects shots with various human mutations. The film opens with a jump scare from one of these (which is a bit cheap but at least grabs the attention) but the next two are better done in terms of having a bit of time and also showing off the effects.

Unfortunately as a film standing on its own, it doesn't quite do enough to really engage and as much as I liked the world I was seeing unfold, I didn't really get drawn in too much. The ending of the film is particularly misjudged as we see the film put up text slide after slide after slide about the prevalence of unlicensed pharmaceuticals. I understand they were continuing the Parliament / real world idea to add weight to the content, but it didn't work, felt clunky and the longer the words went long the more comical it seemed. Aside from this though, the effects are very good and I do like the horror potential for the mutation idea and I would watch any feature from this, primarily to see if they can do the narrative better than they did here.

After a quick jump-scare(get used to it - someone behind this has a severe crush on them. Meanwhile, they tend to be somewhat earned, and certainly aren't cheap), we join a meeting in progress. "Incidents" are being discussed, and the scope gradually increases as the horrifying truth becomes clearer to us.

The reason I watched this at all was an article on Cracked.com; therein, the reader is urged to stop watching at 6 minutes and 46 seconds into the smoothly paced 8 and a half minute running time - that is, before some title cards and the end credits. For the sake of this review, I did not do so. I can see where the author is coming from - it renders obvious what used to be subtext - however, I disagree that it "ruins" the whole.

This is rather well-produced. Filming, editing, FX, acting, all top-notch. Atmosphere is established and maintained tremendously effectively... this is essentially a series of vignettes connected by "what's really going on". The realism really sells us on what's going on - we accept the handful of sci-fi aspects(all of them quite credible) in this readily, because it's clearly the real world.

Conceptually, and as far as the themes go, this is highly relevant; the genre thrives on such, and it's too rare, these days, that something this original(bringing up a recent issue, instead of relying on more universal ones, that have already seen compelling stories dedicated to them) sees the light of day(and certainly, this, the indie scene, is where to go to find it).

There is a lot of disturbing content in this - it runs as an undercurrent throughout. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys food for thought. 8/10

I didn't really know what to expect from The Gate, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. The way the story unfolds - told as a government investigation into three bizarre cases of body deformation - actually reminded me a bit of old-school 1960s sci-fi. Even the narrator's voice fit that vibe perfectly.

The visual effects were surprisingly solid, and the "monsters" were pretty interesting. Honestly, I'd love to see a full-length movie based on this short, but maybe with a different approach - something without the government investigation format. It also would've been cool if the creatures were more dangerous and aggressive instead of being mostly victims here.

Overall, a cool little short with a lot of potential for something bigger!

I saw someone doing a review on YouTube but I decided to not watch spoilers so I searched it up and it was good for 2011 and made in about a week ( they say ) and I'm not disappointed good at giving me what I expected weird but good sci-fi short movie so if you like weird monster things then you go watch this short film but nothing has to do with the gate. For that I'm redacting a points but since it's just to good in my opinion I'm giving one point. Back ( also I'm writing this on a tablet so it's worse than when it's on a computer so this prob gonna take at least fifteen minutes ) but back to the short film it gets a 9 / 10.