Hellgate

This is above average for an independent production filmed on location in Thailand. It is poorly billed as "horror" and even given a poor choice for a title. The better genre for this is Adventure Drama Fantasy, but not horror.

The movie stars actor Cary Elwes and supporting actor William Hurt. Elwes portraits Jeff Mathews a businessman returning to visit his father-in-law in Bangkok when a fatal car accident takes the lives of his wife and son, leaving him in a coma for weeks expected not to survive.

Upon his recovery, Jeff discovers through personal experience and Eastern metaphysics, that his soul is trapped between realms. He must cross a barrier between worlds guarded by demons to save himself.

The movie is nothing to rave about, but better than watching stale remakes and countless sequels others offer.

The title is a little misleading since it would give the impression we have to do with a horror movie.And that is not the case. The original title Shadows makes much more sense.Shadows is more a science fiction with supernatural elements.Knowing this beforehand will save you some disappointment.Since overall Shadows is not scary.It does deal with ghosts and does have some creepy elements.But these are far from frightening.The acting by Cary Elwes and William Hurt is sufficient but it is obvious that Hurt is not giving his best.It's nice to see a USA/Thailand co production like this.I hope we will see more of this if only they would think of better plots that make much more use of the locale and the mysticism.This films is hard to recommend.It's a decent film.But that is all there is.There is nothing that really stands out that would make it worth your time.One to watch on a rainy Sunday.

The American Jeff Mathews (Cary Elwes) returns to Bangkok with his beloved wife Kyle Matthews (Chanin Goldsmith) and son Som Mathews (Paula Taylor) to visit Kyle's parents. Jeff is a businessman that met Kyle in a business trip and married her. Jeff stops the car in a red light and a pickup crashes his car. Five weeks later, Jeff awakes from the coma and learns that Kyle and Som died in the accident. The nurse Choi Luang (Ploy Jindachote) treats Jeff carefully but instead of recovering, he has dreadful visions and nightmares with ghosts and demons..

Choi takes Jeff to the aunt of her cousin Mae Noi (Viyada Umarin) and she explains that he is experiencing the World of Shadows, where people suffer their last moments over and over in the darkness. Soon Jeff learns that his connection with the World of Shadows is very strong and Mae Noi tells that they need help. They go to the house of Warren Mills (William Hurt) and Jeff learns that his soul is trapped in the World of Shadows, and he need to go there to bring his soul back and be one again.

"Shadows", a.k.a. "Hellgate", is a great ghost story about tormented souls and spiritual world. I am not a believer but I enjoyed this movie a lot, which is underrated in IMDb. Jeff's visions are scary and gruesome and the plot is well-resolved. I have never had a chance to visit Thailand but the beautiful locations in this movie are breathtaking. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Sombras do Além" ("Shadows from Beyond")

Note: On 24 October 2023, I saw this film again.

I ask myself how on earth did William Hurt get involved in this movie. It has do be one of the worst movies (in general, not just horror) I've seen. I decided to write a review because I was mislead (into watching it) by what I read here.

So the plot tells the story of a man who survives a car accident and gains powers to see the realm of the dead. He will have to understand why this happened to him and what he has to do to get his normal life back.

The story is interesting enough and involves some Thai(?) legends and folklore I didn't know of, but that's about it. The effects were poor, the scary moments (reminescent of Asian horror, but just not half as good) completely failed their mission and (sorry) the poorly chosen cast ruined this movie for me.

I kept remembering Cary Elwes (the main character) in Liar Liar and his goofy, friendly (and a little chubby even) figure just didn't fit the purpose of a horror movie. The guy is just too friendly and happy-go- lucky, I couldn't feel he was in any REAL pain or distress, ever.

And William Hurt as a tattooed (OMG that looked so fake) old surfer? Didn't cut it for me.

The only character that still had a little credibility was Choi (played by the never seen before Ploy Jindachote), but even she had some sad dialogs that are totally not to blame on her, but on the script.

I really can't think of a reason for anyone to want to watch this movie, maybe the landscapes are kind of nice at times and the creatures are not all that badly created, but everything else falls apart in what was a wasted one and a half hour in my life ... Sorry... 3/10.