Do you remember your parents yelling at you for trying to dig a hole to China in your yard? They never told you that instead of hitting Shanghai, you might just open up the gate to hell and really screw things up for everybody else instead. Stephen Dorff makes his film debut as Glen, a precocious little shit who does exactly that after he comes across a strange rock in the backyard. Glen and his junior metalhead friend Terry figure they can get some money for it since it has a neat crystalline center. They manage to crack open the rock before long and since you have seen Creepshow, you know that nothing good can happen from here. Incantations spoken, heavy metal records played backwards, and these dumb kids unwittingly unlock the demons’ gate. Good thing Glen’s parents are out of town for the weekend; they are going to be pissed when they discover that their homeowners’ insurance does not cover this kind of property damage. The Gate was a bridge between Gremlins and Hellraiser for many kids in the ‘80s. They saw The Gate and the themes explored, better equipping them to handle Pinhead and his Hellraiser demons when that movie came out later in the year. Enjoy this movie for the brainless fun that it is without taking it seriously. I imagine a remake might enjoy a sense of irony and satire that this script doesn’t keep in mind very often.
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