Waste of time

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

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

This is above average for an independent production filmed on location in Thailand. It is poorly billed as "horror" and even given a poor choice for a title. The better genre for this is Adventure Drama Fantasy, but not horror. The movie stars actor Cary Elwes and supporting actor William Hurt. Elwes portraits Jeff Mathews a businessman returning to visit his father-in-law in Bangkok when a fatal car accident takes the lives of his wife and son, leaving him in a coma for weeks expected not to survive.Upon his recovery, Jeff discovers through personal experience and Eastern metaphysics, that his soul is trapped between realms. He must cross a barrier between worlds guarded by demons to save himself.The movie is nothing to rave about, but better than watching stale remakes and countless sequels others offer.

The movie is Hellgate (2011) Written and Directed by John Penney, and staring among others, John Hurt. The movie was shot in Thailand, and shows off some of the breathtakingly gorgeous Park areas. Spoiler Alert: I'm going to discuss the picture. How would they pitch this? The Exorcist meets Stargate in Thailand, Throw in a bit of "living dead" flesh eaters from Mordor and you have a slight inkling of what this movie is about.Does our man Jeff played by Cary Elwes, who after surviving an accident that killed his family, go through the normal stages of grieving? No, he sees dead people. In some odd kabbalistic type set up, At the moment his family perished, his soul joined them, but the body lives! and is tormented by visions of the "Shadow world", His Health care provider, the young and attractive Choi, played by Ploy Indachote knows just the right voodoo mama to cure Jeff's ills. He has to enter the, "Other world" through a portal, that can stay open only eight minutes, relive the car crash, rejoin his soul to his body, and then make a dash back before the portal closes. This is where Warren Mills, played by John Hurt comes in. He knows the terrortory, and will act as guide in helping Jeff regain his soul. The grand battle of Jeff vs the shadow-zombies is accomplished with the help of a the "High priests" of a Buddhist retreat located in Paradise. Thailand. Pretty as a picture.This is an odd mix of a movie, Good production values, but following by now standard horror movie conventions, it's right up there flaunting the clichéd, "Shadow running in mirror reflection" sequence. as well as the familiar, "Shadow dart in front of the camera in a supposedly empty room" gag. The first voodoo lady Mae Noi, played by Viyada Umarin is another time honored horror movie cliché, Dating before Beatrice Straight in Poltergeist, namely,"The spiritual counselor who is in, way over her head."Good production values, boasting an effective score by Nobuhiko Morino. add some unexpected nudity,and bright Location Cinematography, these are the high marks. On the other hand, the drawn out stab at suspense in the last reel just feels repetitive. Three out of Five "sappy ending" Stars.

I ask myself how on earth did William Hurt get involved in this movie. It has do be one of the worst movies (in general, not just horror) I've seen. I decided to write a review because I was mislead (into watching it) by what I read here.So the plot tells the story of a man who survives a car accident and gains powers to see the realm of the dead. He will have to understand why this happened to him and what he has to do to get his normal life back.The story is interesting enough and involves some Thai(?) legends and folklore I didn't know of, but that's about it. The effects were poor, the scary moments (reminescent of Asian horror, but just not half as good) completely failed their mission and (sorry) the poorly chosen cast ruined this movie for me. I kept remembering Cary Elwes (the main character) in Liar Liar and his goofy, friendly (and a little chubby even) figure just didn't fit the purpose of a horror movie. The guy is just too friendly and happy-go- lucky, I couldn't feel he was in any REAL pain or distress, ever. And William Hurt as a tattooed (OMG that looked so fake) old surfer? Didn't cut it for me.The only character that still had a little credibility was Choi (played by the never seen before Ploy Jindachote), but even she had some sad dialogs that are totally not to blame on her, but on the script.I really can't think of a reason for anyone to want to watch this movie, maybe the landscapes are kind of nice at times and the creatures are not all that badly created, but everything else falls apart in what was a wasted one and a half hour in my life ... Sorry... 3/10.

The American Jeff Mathews (Cary Elwes) returns to Bangkok with his beloved wife Kyle Matthews (Chanin Goldsmith) and son Som Mathews (Paula Taylor) to visit Kyle's parents. Jeff is a businessman that met Kyle in a business trip and married her. Jeff stops the car in a red light and a pickup crashes his car. Five weeks later, Jeff awakes from the coma and learns that Kyle and Som died in the accident. The nurse Choi Luang (Ploy Jindachote) treats Jeff carefully but instead of recovering, he has dreadful visions and nightmares with ghosts and demons..Choi takes Jeff to the aunt of her cousin Mae Noi (Viyada Umarin) and she explains that he is experiencing the World of Shadows, where people suffer their last moments over and over in the darkness. Soon Jeff learns that his connection with the World of Shadows is very strong and Mae Noi tells that they need help. They go to the house of Warren Mills (William Hurt) and Jeff learns that his soul is trapped in the World of Shadows, and he need to go there to bring his soul back and be one again. "Shadows", a.k.a. "Hellgate", is a great ghost story about tormented souls and spiritual world. I am not a believer but I enjoyed this movie a lot, which is underrated in IMDb. Jeff's visions are scary and gruesome and the plot is well-resolved. I have never had a chance to visit Thailand but the beautiful locations in this movie are breathtaking. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Sombras do Além" ("Shadows from Beyond")