The Gate

Glenn (Dorff), a Canadian in his early teens, has a thing about rockets, a 16-year-old sister who cares, an HM-loving demonologist buddy, and parents who make untimely decisions to go away for the weekend. As such, this spunky, diminutive Everyman is clearly well equipped to deal with the Forces of Darkness when, for no apparent reason, they come steaming out of a hole in his back garden. After an eventful but soporific first half, the plot, as full of holes as the Albert Hall, takes off into surreal nonsense that is almost delightful: inappropriately cute and beautifully animated SFX monsters thrown up from Hell; a hand stigmatised with a functionless eye; and a dead workman who never existed in the first place arriving zombie-like to wreak revenge for nothing in particular. The lunacy on view is strangely dreamlike, and no bad thing. It's only a pity the film actually tries to make sense. More abandon all round, and the result could have been a Z-grade cult classic.