Now available on VOD from IFC Midnight is the 1980’s
inspired occult horror film Beyond The
Gates, which is equal parts Hellraiser,
Jumanji, Lucio Fulci’s The Gate,
and Evil Dead. The end result is an
absolutely insane homage to an era of VHS, board games, video nasties, and over
the top violence, delivering on entertainment and holy shit moments. The story involves
two estranged brothers, Gordon (Graham Skipper) and John (Chase Williamson), who
reconnect to deal with their missing father’s estate and his VHS rental store.
They discover an unusual VCR board game, which sets in motion some dire
consequences.
The story tries to be more than just a straight horror flick
by focusing on family issues and themes between the two brothers, their missing
father, and the one brother and his girlfriend. There is some comedic dialogue,
but that is mostly during the first act of the movie. Some viewers may find the
pacing of the first act to be somewhat slow, but things really pick up once the
board game comes into play. The final twenty minutes are filled with freaky
moments and wildly violent gore effects.
The cast contains an impressive list of actors that have
appeared in other recent horror pictures, as well as some cult classics. Skipper
and Matt Mercer both previously appeared together in the recent sci-fi/horror
film The Mind’s Eye. Williamson and
Justin Welborn both appeared in the recently released SiREN. Skipper and Williamson both give excellent performance and
play well off of each other. Mercer and Welborn are good, but only have minor
appearances. Brea Grant (The Devil’s Doll) is decent as Gordon’s girlfriend.
The major stand out is former scream queen Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator), who
is super creepy as the board game hostess on the videotape.
First time feature length director Jackson Stewart does a respectable
job with the budgetary limitations that come with a small independent
production. There is decent camera movement, camera placement, and lots of nice
facial close ups of the actors. The opening title sequence was excellent and
helped set up the theme of the movie. The score from Wojciech Golczewski is
superb and it totally captured the essence of the sounds of the 80’s.
This is an obvious passion project from a group of
filmmakers that love an era that pretty much no longer exists and they have
done a fine job of paying tribute to it. Fans of the 80’s and violent horror
movies should end up enjoying this one.
Be kind, please rewind.
Be kind, please rewind.
