Hollow Gate

This film hits rock bottom. It makes a Troma feature look like a masterpiece by comparsion. What little story there is involves a kid who is nearly drowned by his drunken father as a child. As a result of this single incident he grows up to be a maniac who butchers off a group of teenagers who make the misfortune of stopping by his house. This film skips over simple elements like direction, acting, characterizations, etc. and just features one sleazy violent scene after another.

Unrated; Violence and Profanity.

I know it's a long shot but in case you're desperately looking for the most retarded movie ever made…. this is it! Hollow Gate represents EVERYTHING that went wrong with the horror business during the 80's. There's not even a slight attempt to bring depth, character drawing or tension and the whole film is just a series of ineptness. Hollow Gate tells the heart-breaking plot of a young boy whose daddy wasn't capable of loving. Awwww… During a stupid Halloween party, daddy humiliates little Mark Walters and 10 years later he goes berserk on Halloween's eve. Dressed in ridiculous (not necessarily Halloween-related) costumes, he slaughters some of the most stupid teenagers you've ever seen while the local cops are outside his fence, chatting about how deranged he is. Words fail to describe how awful this movie is. I hope everyone involved in this production is still too embarrassed to leave his/her house. Rating 10 out of 10 for being so painfully hilarious. Rating 0 out of 10 for wasting yet another hour and a half of my (not-so) precious life.

Okay this is the plot of this movie; a young kid named Mark has a bad encounter with his father in which he almost drowns. Due to this one incident he goes comlepetely insane and starts butchering all the residents of a small town and some unlucky teenagers from out of town that are making a delivery on Halloween night.

No real story to speak of of, no acting or directing talent in sight, and no budget all add to one of the worst films ever made. Makes "Jack-O and Plan 9 From Outer Space" look like "Citizen Kane." That is just how bad this inept and how mind numbingly awful this piece of mess is.

DO NOT RENT THIS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!!

Hollow Gate is so unoriginal, so cheap and shoddily produced, so very badly acted, and so dark at times, that it will come across as a complete and utter waste of time. The plot is so low budget horror based that it degenerates into the same fate as other late 80's horror, and that is as a rip-off. I mean at least Jason and Freddy had motives. The sicko that slays in this one is supposedly "crazy" due to an abusive childhood. In flashback, we see the boy's (named Mark) father dunk his head in water...ooooooohhh. I can see how he turned into a homicidal maniac, running over helpless girls with tractors and playing war veteran, throwing axes and knives with robot like proficiency. Hardly.....The film is so inept that you almost come to see that the teens are so unintelligent to walk into this sicko's house that they deserve what they get. Well, not exactly, but the film is terrible. Even as a low-budget (or should it be known, NO budget) late 80's horror film, this one tanks. It is that bad. Don't rent this movie unless you are fond of cheap horror films with no plot and an overbearing air of familiarity. 2 out of 10

Hollow Gate is the cinematic equivalent of a supermarket meal deal: not terrible, vaguely satisfying, but you'll forget about it by dessert. The story, while sturdy enough to prop up its 90-minute runtime, feels like it's been scrawled on the back of a cocktail napkin. It's a shame because, with a bit more seasoning, this could've been a genuinely tense psychological thriller. Instead, it plays out like Psycho performed by a community theatre group auditioning for Scooby-Doo.

The direction, to its credit, keeps things ticking along nicely. There's a faint heartbeat of tension, but any attempts at atmosphere fizzle out like a faulty smoke machine at a haunted house. And then there's the killer-less Hannibal Lecter, more panto villain. His over-the-top performance is less chilling and more like he's auditioning for a guest spot on The Muppet Show.

That said, it's not all bad. The film is mildly entertaining and doesn't overstay its welcome, making it the perfect choice for a lazy evening when your brain's in power-saving mode. But if you're looking for genuine dread or thrills, you'll find Hollow Gate more hollow than haunting.