User reviews

Plot

A serial killer has been sentenced to death by electric chair in London in the 1890s, but in his final hours, he puts a curse on the prison he is in, and all of those in it.

Cast

Career villain Richard Brake who is severely wasted here alongside John Rhys-Davies who is just in wall to wall abysmal movies at this stage of his career. A deserved nod however to Michael Yare who was great here.

Verdict

The cover filled me with mixed emotions, Richard Brake? Fantastic, the rest? Amateurish. I thought hey even if it's bad at least Brake will deliver a great evil twisted psychotic performance as always and who doesn't love John Rhys-Davis!? Well, it actually managed to screw my first point up rather impressively. What do I mean by that? Well Brake is the antagonist certainly, but he's barely in the movie at all and when he is it's fleeting and he doesn't really speak at al. In fact honestly I'd be surprised if he has a dozen words of dialogue in the entire movie and isn't even on screen with kills either, his presence is pretty non-existent so that's a major flaw and blatant false advertising!

The setting is interesting, the concept though cliched is fairly engaging and the film does have a few well constructed moments. Sadly then it descends into the realm of the generic and hits you with a very weak ending that is simply lazy and uninspired.

The Gates isn't bad, it's just a shadow of it's potential and that's even worse.

Rants

I get the overwhelming impression lately that a lot of movies suffer with a writing issue that starts with a writer coming up with a concept and.......nothing else. They come up with the premise of a movie, but no middle, no end just the general concept. So we're hit with that, excited about where it's to go and then the quality dips offensively and ends uninspired like they had absolutely no ideas beyond the concept. I see it all the time and it's so frustrating, if writers could come up with more than the mere basis and create a full story that would be great. Otherwise you get The Gates!

The Good

Passable premise John Rhys-Davies Nice setting

The Bad

Brake is wasted Potential squandered badly Weak finale.

I'm honestly not sure what people don't like about this movie.

Because it is pretty damn good!

It's a period piece, that takes place in the late stages of the 19th century.

In a prison that has been cursed- and is haunted- by a satanic serial killer, who was caught, and put to death, prior to bringing his nefarious goals to fruition.

We find ourselves watching as a priest, ghostbusting expert, and two fledgling paranormal investigators, attempt to confront the demon, with hope they can get rid of the dark entity once and for all- using a combination of spiritual and scientific techniques.

So that it can't attach itself to someone, and escape the confines of the prison walls.

The demonic ghost of the killer has a sort of Exorcist meets Evil Dead vibe.

While the film, as a whole, is like a more dramatic version of Ghostbusters.

Either way...I thought that it was both well done, and highly entertaining!

Though, perhaps it's not what some people were looking for, or expecting.

That being said...it does seem to set itself up for a sequel.

So, if you liked it as much as I did.

You have that to look forward to, in the future.

A solid supernatural thriller, all around.

6 out of 10.

John Rhys Davies stars in this. But at the age of 80, the blunderbuss vocal energy of his Raiders Of The Lost Ark days are gone. Then again with the stilted, monologue type dialogue he and the rest of the cast are given to work with, it's not surprising. In fact, it is so uninspiring and dull, that I found it actually painful to listen to, so only lasted 30 minutes of the 1 hour 50.

Which is a pity, as the production quality is decent. Convincing Victorian sets, street scenes, and costumes and a decent soundtrack, show an attempt to be above the B movie bracket.

Plot wise, I cannot really comment much. Victorian death row prisoners, new fangled electrickery, sciency stuff, mixed with dead prisoners ghosts and paranormal shenanigans. It all sounds too familiar.

Go watch penny Dreadful instead.

Don't buy all these fake reviews on here. This is one of the most boring, drawn out, tiring films I've ever seen. I couldn't get past 1 hour 20 minutes. It's literally a bunch of people dressed in period piece costumes in an old prison discussing some ghost.

I fell asleep twice trying to get through it and just gave up. All these 8 or 7 reviews are completely fake. I couldn't spend one more minute watching this thing. It's just that boring and drawn out. Why is every scene just boring dialogue? If you like falling asleep on your couch while trying to get through a 2 hour movie then this is for you!!! 2/10.

One known name to head the poster: Check!

Found old prison to serve as the place where to shoot almost the entire movie: Check!

Apart from above everything about this movie is awful. Terribly awful. Oh, apart from the mass murderer, because he was actually kind of cool.

This movie reminds me of a too long and drawn out episode of some campy Sherlock Holmes episode for teenagers. Everything, apart from maybe the first two minutes, is absolutely wrong. Which is quite interesting in a way. Did they use some other director for the first two minutes, I wonder, because the first two minutes were actually dark and bloody. Immediately after that everything turned horribly boring with a horribly boring script and cast.

For a low-budget film, this one delivers superior production value and atmosphere! It's so nice to see a film that allows for the purely supernatural, without trying to explain everything in pseudoscience terms!

Good, also, to see old John Rhys-Davies in a starring role again! The principals all turn in fine performances, although a few of the lesser performers were truly atrocious (especially Lucien's associate!).

Richard Brake was a fine choice for the intensely evil William Colcott; he delivered a truly menacing performance!

All-in-all, if you don't expect too much from this modest-sized project, I think most people who appreciate a good gothic tale will find it surprisingly satisfying!

When I stumbled upon the 2023 horror/thriller "The Gates" here in 2024 and seeing that it had Richard Brake on the cast list, then there was no doubt about me sitting down to watch it.

Writers Tim Reynolds and Stephen Hall, with the latter also being the director of the movie, put together an enjoyable supernatural thriller with a good storyline. The storyline included the creation of the EVP (Electrical Voice Phenomena), which was a nice touch. It is an atmospheric thriller, where the writers gradually builds up the suspense and piles up elements of a supernatural dread.

Something that worked against the movie was the pacing of the narrative, because it was rather slow and bland at times, without much of anything thrilling or exciting happening, and that made sitting through 111 minutes of the movie somewhat of an ordeal at times. So either a more round-handed trim in the editing or a more spruced-up storyline would have served the movie well.

The acting performances in the movie were good from the entire cast ensemble, and with the likes of John Rhys-Davies and Richard Brake at the helm, then you're in capable hands. Richard Brake brought his usual devilish charm and sinister charisma, while John Rhys-Davies brought a level of class and Shakespearian atmosphere to the movie. Michael Yare (playing Lucian Abberton) and Elena Delia (playing Emma Wickes) definitely put on good performances as well.

The colors and lighting used throughout the course of the movie were definitely enhancing the atmosphere of the movie tremendously, making it seem and feel like a distinct 1890-period set movie. As did the wardrobe, sets and props department, I liked that level of dedication to making the movie feel authentic. It worked marvelously in favor of the overall feel of the movie.

While "The Gates" certainly is a watchable movie, I was expecting a bit more from a movie with Richard Brake and John Rhys-Davies. And I have to admit that this is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time, because the storyline just doesn't have the contents to support more than a single viewing.

My rating of director Stephen Hall's 2023 movie "The Gates" lands on a five out of ten stars. It was as if the movie buckled in under its own ambition to deliver more than director Stephen Hall could muster.

This one almost got the better of me. As one reviewer wrote...and I tend to agree...everything about this picture was completely wrong...except the killer himself. Just for starters...and I knew this already...the electric chair was never used for executions in Britain. Considering that an execution is a large part of this picture, wouldn't you at least use a proper method to carry out said execution?? Maybe it is just me...but I don't think so. This film was also a great chance to use police brutality for good instead of evil, but, NOPE!! LOL I debated for some time over what to rate this one. Either side of six seemed criminal in some perverse way. Anyway, THANK YOU and ENJOY A MOVIE TODAY!!!

This one landed in a funny place for me...however, overall I enjoyed it (with the knowledge that I do have a bias for period horror lol). It was decently atmospheric and I saw a lot of potential in what they created.

The Gates was a bit of a roller coaster as I saw it. I continually found myself engaged and invested... and the next second I found myself being pulled out of the moment. I think that this was mainly attributed to the script, the acting and some scenery.

While the script wasn't awful by any means, I felt it a bit hokey and underdeveloped at times and certainly didn't do the actors any favors. The acting was extremely hit or miss here. By far the best of the bunch was the uncle. He carried a lot of the weight of what was successful here on his back. Along with some side characters such as some prisoners, the antagonist and the rogue wife. Unfortunately a lot of the other actors were not as successful. The main paranormal investigator guy and his buddy didn't do the production many favors either. The buddy was stiff as a board with extremely stilted delivery but as a side character, that wasn't as detrimental. The main one really had a lot of responsibility here due to the size and importance of his role... and he just didn't do it for me.

I know that it is super difficult and often times expensive to pull off a period piece so kudos for that. The majority of the time it looked really great and convincing. Unfortunately, occasionally our modern day shown through and I was pulled you out of the moment a bit.

I also think that the plot could've been refined a bit. The foundation definitely felt like it was there, but it lost its way at times and became a little convoluted. There were many subplots and interactions that got thrown to the side and felt unnecessary. I noticed this the most with the niece. By not having anything come to fruition with her mother or her potential gift... It almost made her character unnecessary. The ending also fell off the rails a bit and required a good amount of suspension of disbelief... and a bit of suspension of understanding as well.

Now, while I know this feels overwhelmingly negative... while viewing this, you will find that a lot of these issues don't seem to be super detrimental or particularly deterring (at least for me). Also many of these are pretty common while enjoying an indie horror and can be looked past.

I think they swung really big with this movie and while it wasn't 100% successful, I think they created something that was cool, decently entertaining and a production to generally be proud of. While I would love to round up, for me this gets a 5.5 rounding down to a 5, would recommend.

I was thrilled by the good time I had. A beautifully well-written supernatural thriller that does not bend to modern story telling conventions but instead focuses on the the truely scary- the idea of the not being able to escape. This is a gripping, classic ghost story that I watched with a group of people who all enjoyed it for different reasons.

We were all glued to the screen, plenty of good jump scares, good actions and beautiful locations. Can't wait for the second one!

Well worth the Amazon Prime stream, will be recommending to all movie buffs, film afficionados and feature length fanciers.

This was a tough one to get through.

Right from the start, you realize the accents are... wrong. There wasn't even an attempt at consistency there.

The acting was hit and miss. Some of the actors were just fine, others were amazingly atrocious.

The storyline is convoluted and takes way too long to move from one development to the next.

The characters range from neutral to intensely unlikeable, and there's no significant character development. I couldn't find anyone to root for, or even care about.

The sets - well, there were a number of glaring errors, with clearly modern day items randomly mixed in with stuff that could possibly be from the time period. Or not.

Waaaayyy overlong, and that made it a slog. Tighten the editing and it could have been entertaining.

First, it's a rather long movie for the substance. They really go to lengths to draw things out unnecessarily. The script is painful to listen to. It's very sophomoric, and the over-baked archetypes make the acting pretty cringe. I actually really like. John Rhys-Davies from other movies. Elena Deliia also does a good job with a poor script. However, Michael Yare should seek employment as something other than an actor. It's like watching a junior-high school student attempt acting for the first time. What makes it all worse is, even though there are a few good actors, there is absolutely zero synchronicity between the cast. None of them mesh well together, so it makes it really difficult to try to enjoy what little gems there are to this story. This could have been done a million times better, and they obviously had the budget for it.

Throughout most of the performance, we watch the characters gracefully move around the stage, creating an exciting spectacle. The climax gradually grows closer to the finale, attracting our attention with the supernatural frenzy of an unsettled spirit belonging to an evil sorcerer. Out of nowhere, as if materializing from another world, the character "Maria" suddenly appears - why and for what purpose?... The humorous situation develops as rapidly as it ends :) But why was this introduced, you ask? :) - I don't know either :))) The otherworldly manifestation causes a whirlwind of demonic fun - a flickering light bulb built into a musical instrument turns out to be a powerful magical force :)))))) - hands grab the viewer's face, leaving him puzzled. What's going on here? - Even I ask myself this question with good reason :)))) Finally, the climax comes - a confrontation with a vile sorcerer. The characters use a glowing light bulb inside a musical instrument, and thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the actors, this brings wonderful "fruits" - the absurdity ends the performance, leaving the curtain down and not saying goodbye, subtly hinting at a future sequel. :)))) Admittedly, this scenario was conceived by artificial intelligence - I have no other explanation.

Once I saw this film was set in 1890, I had a feeling this would be the dark supernatural gothic mystery I'd hoped for. Well made, great locations and mix of occult that kept you on edge of seat.

Great Victorian era paranormal detectives getting caught up in more than they expected they would.

Some great jump scares but also some great slow build ups.

I had problems with the sound, speech quality was often low so it was difficult hearing some of the mumbled lines in certain scenes.

It did think it went on a little too long, but fans of paranormal and science clashing will love it.

Very enjoyable.

First of All, those who gave it bad review and score, If this type of movie isn't your thing, don't watch these movies. Time and time again, i watch movies that are actually quite good, very good, and there's always a few naysayers. Yes , yes , difference of opinion and all that, but still. Don't like it, don't watch or continue to.

Second, the tone, atmosphere, setting, costumes, etc., all very well done. The acting also, I thought, very well done, especially John Rhys Davies and Richard Brake. Though, Mr. Brake could've had abit more screen time. But his performance was very well done creepy and kinda scary. Elena Delia , i thought was quite good to , likesaid i thought the acting was quite good.

To my knowledge, this wasn't a big movie studio production, i have not heard of the companies involved unfortunately. But that doesn't matter, even smaller companies, smaller budget movies can be good, very good. From some of the huge budget drivel that gets made these days, astonishes me that that those movies become popular.

Third, this is all my opinion. I very much enjoyed it, yep. Had a few thing i was unsure about, could've explained more , done differently. Minor things, i guess. But i think better alot better , than what some here say.