ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Micransix Crappy film

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Platypuschow The Gate (1987) was a quirky horror comedy that I consider to be a classic of its time.It's not until recently I became aware that it even had a sequel and upon investigation I saw why. The movie was created in 1988 but struggled to get a release, once it finally did it bombed and bombed hard.Sadly it's clear why this is the case, it's pretty damn bad.It picks up where we left off as Terry tries to fix all the damage done in the last movie. Sadly things don't go the way he planned and demonic activity kicks off once again.The laughs are lacking, the horror is minimal and it all looks really quite crummy. Top that off with a really rather lame story and even worse execution and you have a hugely disappointing sequel.The Good: Old school practical effects Follows on from the original The Bad: The film Things I Learnt From This Movie: Some sequels simply shouldn't be made Some things turn to crap, literally

sol- While it never once achieves the pure creepiness of the original, this inevitable sequel to 'The Gate' is more palatable than one might expect. Michael Nankin and Tibor Takács (who wrote and the directed the first film) smartly take the material in a refreshing new direction here with a now older Terry willfully re-summoning the demons under the belief that he can manipulate them to grant wishes. The mythology driving this plot deviation is never too well explained, but there are several great moments as he manages to capture one such demon and keep it in a cage (the special effects for the creature are phenomenal). The film also manages to achieve lots of laughs thanks to some deft black comedy as it turns out that all the wishes the creature grants are only ever temporary. A French restaurant scene is especially funny as two bullies who have stolen the creature see their wishes turn inside out, one of them having to wipe away excrement that used to be money, while the other finds his face oozing like crazy - all this much to the bafflement of the posh restaurant staff. Unfortunately the film looses its way towards the end with an over-the-top ancient ritual battle/climax that lacks the subtlety of the film's earlier special effects; the upbeat ending is also terribly jarring. For the most part though, this is as wildly inventive a sequel as one could ever really hope for.

CMRKeyboadist After growing up watching "The Gate" I was very happy to here they had made a sequel to this great film from the 80's. I had watched the sequel back in 1990 or somewhere in that time period and remember thinking it was entertaining. Years later, I just grabbed myself a copy of this film and watched it last night. All I have to say is BORING. What could have been a great idea the writers of the movie filled in with bad dialog, bad acting, and no direction. The only fun part of this movie was the last 20 minutes of the movie where you finally see some of the elements that made the first one so fun. I mean you start to see the classic stop motion animation which made many of the 80's films so great. A lot better than the computer animated stuff that comes out now. In general, this was to slow paced and the fun parts of the movie came way to late. But, if you were a fan of the first movie go ahead and check it out at the local video. 5 stars

MorbidMorgan The excellent ' Gate II ' may differ somewhat in style from it's predecessor, abandoning the rollercoaster ride approach of the original in favour of a more character driven tale, but it still emerges as a solid sequel with enough supernatural incident and effective monsters to keep the viewer engaged. The entire creative team behind the 1986 ( released in 1987 ) horror hit returned for the follow up - director Tibor Takacs, screenwriter Michael Nankin and special effects team Craig Reardon and Randall William Cook, and what we have is a darker battle between mankind and the evil that lurks just beyond ' The Gate '! Louis Tripp, the sole returning cast member, delivers a brilliant performance as Terry, the bespectacled heavy metal fan turned teen sorceror, who deliberately conjures up the demons of ' The Gate ' in the hope that he can use their powers to do some good. He is interrupted in his rituals by a local gang ( including Liz, a love interest for Terry, zestly played by Pamela Segall ) who get in on the act, helping him to bring forth a minion, a creature able to grant their wishes. Of course it all backfires and the gang must somehow find a way to send the minion back before the Unholy Trinity can claim a human sacrifice and create their Hell on Earth! Oddly the movie spent two years on the shelf in the U.S. ( released in 1992 ) and so sadly we never got to see a ' Gate III '.