It’s a story we’ve all heard before. Parents leave their kids home alone for a few days and the unsupervised kids throw a party and wreck the place. That’s how it goes when 12-year-old Glen is left in the care of his 15-year-old sister Alexandra… But these kids also get into a whole new level trouble while their parents are away. They open a tunnel to Hell in their back yard, conjuring demons that play mind games with them and then become a physical threat. This is what happens in the 1987 film The Gate (watch it HERE) – and if you haven’t seen this one, it’s the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw.
The Gate started with a screenplay written by Michael Nankin, who had co-written and co-directed the 1980 comedy Midnight Madness. Upset that a project he had been working on fell apart, he decided to purge his negative emotions by writing a horror script, crafting a story that centered on a young boy named Glen. He built the story around his own childhood experiences: Glen was a version of himself and Glen’s best friend Terry was based on his own best friend. They used to dig holes in the yard together, imagining they could dig from California, all the way through the Earth, and come out on the other side in China. But in this script, the hole Glen and Terry are digging ends up being a gateway to Hell. That first draft was dark and nasty and packed with death. Demonic creatures emerge from the hole and get out into neighborhood, where they invade homes and attack people in their beds. This all built up to Glen having to face off with a 12-foot-tall demon lord… who would be entirely made of bloody entrails. Nankin was able to sell his script to New Century Entertainment and the Vista Organization, but they didn’t like idea of a movie starring children if it wasn’t going to be for children. So they had Nankin rewrite the script to be more family friendly. He removed the violent death scenes and the description of the demon lord being made of guts, but he kept all of the creepiness in there. Nankin had been planning to direct the film himself, but when Canadian production company Alliance Entertainment got involved, they vetoed that idea. The movie would be shot in Canada, with a Canadian director at the helm.
Born in Hungary but raised in Canada, director Tibor Takács had pitched a project that never got made to producer John Kemeny. Kemeny wasn’t interested in the pitch, but he offered Takács the chance to work on a different project that was already in the works. One option was the supernatural revenge film The Wraith, which ended up being an awesome movie that was directed by its writer, Mike Marvin. Another option was The Gate, and Takács decided to take the job of directing that one. And he wanted to make sure Nankin would be involved throughout the process. He brought new ideas to the table that he had Nankin work in with another rewrite. First, he had the kids aged up. Glen and Terry were 8 or 9 in the original script; they ended up being 12. Glen had an older brother in the script, but Takács had grown up with a sister. So the brother became 15, almost 16-year-old sister Alexandra, who is called Al. Takács also wanted to make a child’s fear of abandonment a theme throughout and he drew inspiration from the Satanic panic of the ‘80s when it came to the demons. Nankin had the kids getting demon information from books in the library. It was Takács’ idea to make Terry a fan of demon-themed rock music. Which makes sense, given that his first movie was a dystopian rock opera called Metal Messiah. The kids learn about the demons through the lyrics and liner notes, and by playing a heavy metal album backwards.
The whole “digging to China” idea was also dropped. The hole in Glen’s back yard comes from an old tree being removed, and when Glen and Terry notice a geode in the hole, they dig more in hopes of finding more geodes. Things they can make money from selling. But a series of circumstances turn the hole left by the tree into a gateway to Hell: Blood from a cut finger. A geode that splits open, causing demonic writing to appear on a Magic Slate board. A levitation trick gone wrong at a party thrown by Al. The family dog dying… and being dumped into the tree hole by Al’s uncaring friend. This is considered a sacrifice. It conjures demons. And while most of the demons are tiny creatures, don’t worry, a giant demon lord will show up as well.
Hundreds of young actors auditioned for the roles of Glen, Terry, and Al. Screen tests were shot with a couple dozen of them. Joshua John Miller, who had memorable roles in River’s Edge and Near Dark around this time, was in the running. But he didn’t get cast. Instead, Stephen Dorff was chosen to play Glen, with Louis Tripp as Terry and Christa Denton as Al. Kelly Rowan and Jennifer Irwin were cast as Al’s friends, the Lee sisters. with Sean Fagan as Eric, the friend who disposes of the dog corpse. Scot Denton and Deborah Grover have scenes as Glen and Al’s parents, but they’re absent for most of the action.
The plan was for The Gate to start filming in the fall of 1985, but the funding wasn’t in place, so the start date was pushed back to the spring of 1986. Takács has called this a fortuitous delay, because it gave him several extra months to polish the script with Nankin, work with special effects supervisor Randall William Cook, designing the creatures, and storyboard the effects sequences. Takács told Coming Soon, “We ended up with several similar creature looks for the minions to choose from. Technological and budgetary constraints kept us in the ballpark of what we ended up with. We knew their heights relative to a human and that they would be played by people in suits on force-perspective sets. They needed to be of a design that could easily be manufactured in multiples as a rubber suit with a lot of agility. Due to budget constraints, we could only create one head mold, so we had to choose only one expression. They ended up with a dumbfounded look on their faces. Only one had some very basic facial animatronics. Throughout the film, Randy used an encyclopedia of techniques to make the minions work. Bluescreen, trick perspective, stop-motion, and puppets were all used in rotation; once you think you have it figured out, we introduce another technique. Another process used to great effect was to shoot them at a lower frame rate so they would appear to move a little more furtively. They also had to be coached to move in special ways in order to compensate for the frame rate.” The minions were played by young adults who volunteered to get into the costumes, and they look awesome in the finished film. So does the giant, stop-motion demon lord.
According to the filmmakers, The Gate was made on a budget of 2.5 million Canadian. When it was released in May of 1987, it opened in second place at the weekend box office, and went on to earn 13.5 million dollars, U.S., during its theatrical run. Then came a successful VHS release. And the movie also got a lot of play on cable, allowing it to gather a large cult following and reach a lot of fans who consider it to be one of the many classics of the ‘80s. In 2009, Lionsgate gave it a special edition DVD release. A Vestron Video Blu-ray followed in 2017. The film was such a success, Takács and Nankin reunited for a sequel a couple of years later. Louis Tripp reprised the role of Terry in The Gate II: Trespassers… but that one wasn’t nearly as well received as the first movie. In 2009, it was announced that Alex Winter – yes, the guy who’s best known for playing Bill S. Preston, Esquire – would be directing a remake of The Gate. In 3D. But that never made it into production.
The Gate lives up to its title in more than one way. Sure, it’s about kids accidentally opening a gate to Hell. But the title also fits because this is a great gateway horror movie. If a young kid is looking to get into the horror genre, this should be one of their earliest viewings. But just because it has children in the lead roles and is family friendly overall doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some edge. A kid can test their movie-watching courage with this one, because it is incredibly creepy. It’s relentless in its attempt to scare the hell out of its characters and keep the viewer on the edge of their seat throughout. There is a thick atmosphere of dread hanging over every scene. Something is off from the start. We know things are going to go terribly wrong. And events get gradually stranger and more dangerous as the story goes on. Takács wanted to bring a feeling of being under a magic spell to the movie, and he succeeded.
The director saw the film as a dark fairy tale. As he told Daily Dead, “Fairy tales are an important part of your development, your creativity, especially when you’re young. I feel like you have to experience fear when you’re young because it opens up a floodgate to imagination. My own experience is filled with those seminal things that happened when I was kid. Like when I saw Snow White. I was a scared little kid after, but that really fueled my imagination.”
The scenes with the demons, small and large, will stick with anyone who watches this movie. But these creatures aren’t the only threats. The evil forces that have been unleashed can influence the world around the characters and tap into their deepest fears or manipulate their emotions. That brings us some of the best, creepiest scenes in the movie. Like when Terry is made to think that his mother, who passed away the year before, has returned. They embrace… only for Terry to realize he’s holding the corpse of the dog. A scared Glen runs outside and is happy to see that his parents have come home. But it’s a trick. The father lets out a demonic cry of, “You’ve been bad!” And attacks Glen while the mom just stands there laughing.
Terry told Glen that a worker had died during the construction of his house. Instead of telling the police, his co-workers just sealed him up in the walls of the house. The evil plays on Glen’s fear of that idea. A zombie worker emerges from the walls, and one of the most amazing effects in the movie involves this guy. The zombie falls forward – and when he hits the ground, his body turns into a bunch of the little demon minions.
Those mind-blowing effects. The intense creepiness. The strength of the performances delivered by the child actors. They all work together to make The Gate an enduring gateway horror classic, all these decades later. So if you haven’t seen it yet, seek it out. Whether you’re just getting into horror or if you’ve been a fan for years The Gate is a must-see.
A couple previous episodes of the Best Horror Movie You Never Saw series can be seen below. To see more, and to check out some of our other shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!