The Gate (1987)

(In French, On Cable TV, August 2020) There is a fascinating core to kiddy-horror film The Gate that disappoints more than it satisfies. It does have a lot of the same elements that made such a success out of Poltergeist: the numerous special effects imaginatively rendered, (including plenty of stop-motion) the sense of dull suburban reality collapsing against supernatural assault, the down-to-earth characters and the increasing dreamlike weirdness of the thrills… this should have been much, much better than it is. But the script and director Tibor Takács end up focusing so much on the young protagonists that, in doing so, they handicap the film to a milquetoast result that pleases no one. The kids will find it too spooky, the adults will find it too tame, and we end up far away from Poltergeist with similar material. I mean, sure, you can always show it to 12-year-olds to hook them up on horror, but such younger-audience fare should also be watchable by the entire family and there’s something in The Gate that simply doesn’t click as well as it should.