Hollow Gate

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 early Joseph Merhi/Richard Pepin production made before they formed PM Productions,who made a slew of decent action and horror films during the 90's.This one is easily one of the worst horror films I have ever seen.It's about psycho Mark Walters(Addison Randall)killing a bunch of incredibly stupid teenagers at his isolated country estate during Halloween Night while wearing various silly costumes(soldier,doctor,cowboy).The killings are bloody,but the storyline is so dumb,that you'll just shake your head in complete disbelief at some of the things these teenagers do.The acting is awful and there is no suspense whatsoever.The film is clearly as bad as Joseph Merhi's "The Newlydeads",so if you're a fan of this kind of trash you won't be disappointed.As for me,I give up.3 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.

Alright, fine. "Incredible" is a bit of a stretch. Terrible, on the other hand, pretty much tells the entire story, here. In its defense, I have most certainly seen worse. Not a helluva lot worse, mind you, and not too terribly often. Although, Hollow Gate is really, very quite terrible, I didn't find it to be unwatchable, and it an't event that boring. And, at times, this movie even makes a little sense... A little.

Alright, fine. So, this completely random obscurity makes no sense whatsoever. But sometimes that's the appeal. Although, if this one made any less sense, I don't think I could stand it. So, we begin at a Halloween party where an apple-bobbing contest is being held. Mark sucks at it, and his drunk step-dad is about to let him know exactly how much pride he takes in this activity. Berating the poor little fellow, and basically trying to drown him. Fast forward ten Halloweens later, and a traumatized Mark is now working at a gas-station, and a couple pull up, and make it their business to berate this ticking time-bomb just enough to get themselves blown up. I guess Mark got away with it, because now the timeline in set two more Halloweens later, and a chick whom Mark has taken a shining to makes it clear exactly how disgusting she finds him. Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens to her. Time for Mark to go away for a while. I guess he eventually gets out, because now, on God knows how many more Halloweens later, the actual story begins. So, now this guy is looking to slaughter a bunch of irritating teenagers, for pretty much no reason. I guess he's gone off the deep end to the point that he no longer needs a reason. Kinda like Michael Myers... uhm, without the mask. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I forget to mention that this was shot on video? Yeah, I know. I was shocked too. Hollow Gate isn't so much like other s.o.v's from the same era, such as Cannibal Campout, or Blood Lake. This one reminds me more of something like Troll 2. If you haven't seen that one, see it, now. Nevermind this one, just see Troll 2. As for Hollow Gate, if you have a thing for the most obscure of 80's s.o.v. schlock, and have an unlimited amount of patience for ineptness, as well as many, many other flaws, then you just might not hate this movie. Actually, come to think of it, I love obscure Horror, and I have plenty of patience for ineptness, yet I still kinda hate Hollow Gate. 4/10

I find myself writing this review a day after viewing, not because it inspired me so much I couldn't wait, but because if I leave it much longer the film is pretty much guaranteed to vacate my memory. A quivering slab of SOV junk that neither glistens with home movie crapulence nor captures any genuine freakishness or gruesome laughs, Hollow Gate is pretty far from memorable, though it does at least carve out a more or less bearable path for its 87 minutes or so. We have the sad tale of Mark Nelson here, humiliated by his boozy step dad and thusly bound for insanity and subsequent murder, it's a message film clothed in the inimitable rags of 80's video technology. Child mockery makes for ticking time bombs, unwatched cars may be set to explode, unwatched pills may remain untaken, even with assurances that they have been. Be nice, be attentive, writer/director Ray Di Zazzo seems to say. Or maybe not, but you can never tell. Anyhoo, this is worse than average for a late 80's slasher, witless padding by idiot cops bulks out a pretty thin set up, there are only 4 kids about for the offing in the bulk of the film and the blood and gore is very thin on the ground. At least Addison Randall conjures up some enthusiastic unhingement to make up for being utterly unscary, while the two ladies in peril of the film are easy enough on the eye. Randall seemed to pop up in a fair few straight to video roles, though of the aforementioned womenfolk the most interesting sounding later film role is Katrina Alexy being "Head in a Bowl" in the likely never seen by anybody short film Oatmeal. Achievement! Best (or worst, depending on how you look at these things) for acting in this one is Richard Dry, who perhaps anticipating never appearing in anything else builds up a head of steam before really blowing loose the last stages of the film. His madly profane panic and acclamations of love to his girlfriend carry a remarkable energy, almost as if his very life depended on it, and its an almost awesome thing to behold. There isn't much reason to watch this one altogether, I wouldn't recommend it. Inane killer, daft costumes (though his soldier scene is pretty funny) little violence, this is something of a failure, of interest only to the real geeks out there. Dig in if you feel you must and you might not get burned too bad, but there are still tons of worthwhile obscure slashers out there that you likely haven't seen, so try them instead.