Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Gate II (1990) ** (out of 4)This sequel tries to follow on from the original movie and now it features Terry (Louis Tripp) trying to close the doors that were originally opened. Things don't go as planned as soon he and three friends unleash the minions and two of them decide to try and get some wishes granted.I must admit that I really wasn't expecting too much out of this sequel and especially since I wasn't overly thrilled with the original movie. There's no question that this film had a much smaller budget to work with and this is obvious during the special effects scenes. With that said, I really thought the movie was entertaining for what it was. Was it a masterpiece or an Oscar-winner? Of course not but it wasn't trying to be. I'm guessing fans of the original aren't fans of this one but for the most part I found it to be entertaining.For me the best thing about the movie were the four lead characters and performances. I thought Tripp, Simon Reynolds, James Villemaire and Pamela Segall were all very good in their roles and I thought their performances helped make the film all the more entertaining. There's not always monsters or action on the screen so we needed the characters to keep us entertained and for the most part they did. I liked hanging out with them and felt they added to the entertainment value.The special effects aren't as good as the first film but they are practical ones and for the most part they look good enough for this type of "B" movie. If you're expecting a lot of gore then you'll be disappointed because there isn't much, although there is a great sequence where one character begins to melt in a bathroom. With all of that being said, there's no question that the material wasn't the greatest and there certainly wasn't anything overly original here.GATE 2 isn't a great movie or even a good one but it's pleasant enough and worth watching.

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.

Sequel filmed in 1989, but released in 1992 in the states, doesn't come close to being on par with the original. Terry, Stephen Dorff's buddy from the original, returns here and this picks up sometime after the last films events. Terry's life sucks so he decides to mess around with the spells that brought out the first films demons. This time, they don't come out of a hole in the backyard, they come out from within you. Plus, they grant wishes, which eventually turn to crap (literally). Below average sequel could really have been good, since the original film's supporting actor and director were included in this project. It starts off promising, with a beginning that looks like it's gonna continue from the original, but then the story goes off in a different direction, introducing ideas and sequences that are somewhat interesting at first, but are portrayed in a somewhat slim and rushed manner, making things rather awkward. By the end of the film, the thing is disappointing, and doesn't look anything like a movie that should have followed-up The Gate. It's too bad there is no hope of a Gate 3, because the original had a good, tight story, likable characters and sequences with lots of imagination. Gate 2 could have been better. The slack pace, campiness, and shallow annoying characters hamper this sequel I remember waiting for a few years at the time to come out. See the original if you like horror. Skip this mis-fire. Pamela Segall Adlon does voices for King Of The Hill. One Star.

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 '.