6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Three young children accidentally release a horde of nasty, pint-sized demons from a hole in a suburban backyard. What follows is a classic battle between good and evil as the three kids struggle to overcome a nightmarish hell that is literally taking over the Earth.
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Kelly Rowan, Jennifer Irwin, Christa Denton, Louis TrippHorror | 100% |
Supernatural | 15% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Music: Dolby Digital 2.0
BDInfo
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Years ago two kids showed up at the door of a house I was renting and announced that they were “amateur archaeologists” and wanted to know if they could dig for treasures in the back yard. Not seeing any harm in it all, I gave them permission, only to be a little shocked when I looked out just a little while later to see that they had actually managed to dig a rather sizable pit, one probably at least five or six feet deep. They were thrilled that even this “little” excavation had unearthed an old glass bottle, and they wanted to expand their investigation. With thoughts of an angry landlord in mind, I put the kibosh on any further exploration, but the fact that after just a few minutes these two intrepid history buffs were able to find something that they at least treasured is a perhaps fitting example of just how much stuff is buried beneath the dirt and grasses that we traipse over daily. Luckily these two young boys weren’t like the kids in The Gate, for when a lightning strike upends a mammoth tree in the yard of Glen (Stephen Dorff), a gaping hole is left, one that ends up being, well, a gate to a demonic realm. Glen, his buddy Terry (Louis Tripp) and Glen’s older sister Alexandra (Christa Denton) are then left to face the consequences since in true horror movie fashion the parental units have left, putting Alexandra (who goes by Al) in charge. The Gate has some really fun special effects that help to elevate it a bit, though its general ambience is kind of lo-fi and almost intentionally B-movie like, but interestingly at least a couple of its ideas and/or images were later recycled in higher profile films.
The Gate is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Film's Vestron Video imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a somewhat variable looking transfer, one that has generally decent color saturation and good detail levels in some of the (relatively few) brightly lit outdoor sequences (especially in the film's early going). However, the vast bulk of this film takes place inside various environments (including the underground lair), and often at night or in the dark, and detail levels are understandably suppressed pretty regularly in these sequences. Due to the various special effects techniques on display, including stop motion, grain structure is also variant at times, though generally speaking the grain field resolves naturally. A lot of the darker moments don't offer much support for an already kind of wan palette, one that might have used a bit of color correction, since flesh tones are sometimes a bit brown and the entire look of the film doesn't really pop with much force. There's some noticeable wobble during the credits, something that may indicate an older master, or at least one that hasn't undergone serious restoration. I've scored this at 3.0 to temper expectations appropriately, but my hunch is fans of the film will probably be generally pleased with the presentation here.
There's some surprising low end on The Gate's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, one that finds regular rumbly force in some of the score by Michael Hoenig and J. Peter Robinson. (It's kind of fascinating to hear the composers reference composers like Stockhausen or even Terry Riley in their interview included on this release, since their score is pretty resolutely 80s horror synth material.) There are some fun if patently goofy sound effects, including "echo-ey" reverb in some POV shots up from the underground lair toward the boys looking down from above, as well as both the chatter and pitter patter of the littlest demons. The cataclysmic finale gets a little busy sounding at times, but generally speaking dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly and is well prioritized.
The Gate is a whirlwind of some really fun effects sequences, and those sequences give the film an enjoyable energy that the film's kind of haphazard story telling never really does. There's so much going wrong in Glen's world that it almost becomes comical after a while, and in fact some horror fans probably will be prone to giggle at the hordes of little demons overtaking the family home. This release has some variable video, but audio sounds great and this is probably the most stuffed to the gills assortment of supplements that Lionsgate's Vestron Video imprint has offered yet, something that in and of itself may make this more of a "must have" for some fans. Recommended.
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