Just so...so bad

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Well to start this off...do NOT rent,films. The Black Gate is just a poor attempt at film making. Mesa is simply an awful director. Jeff Rectum spits out a dismal performance as "Scott" which reflects the past and present state of his career; no surprises there. What's truly surprising is the fact that the Black Gate is actually great entertainment. Well, that is if you love laughing at awful movies and hilarious "scary" scenes like my friends and I do. Of course, I'm still giving it a 1/10 because it's most likely the worst movie I've ever seen. All that being said, rent the movie or buy it off ebay for ~1 US dollar (yea, I'm serious) if you love cackling at awful actors and dreadful script writing.I've viewed the film twice now and here are my picks for "Most Classic, Awful, Black Gate Scene(s)":1) The beautiful shots of the ocean that are the only quality thing about the movie, which makes them awful. Speculation: 47% of the movie budget was spent getting such a vast array of oceanic shots. 2) The "Clown in the Attic" scene..."NO BATTERIES!" 3) Richard Locke's scenes, especially the one where he appears in a 1 second flashback and shouts "Gyahh!!!" 4) "Ghost Kiss"...self explanatory... 5) The sequence where the old caretaker is followed BY NOTHING and falls off a cliff because of NOTHING. 6) And finally (this Richard Locke scene deserves a number of its own) the scene where Richard Locke appears and runs up to Scott. Instead of striking him in any vital area, Locke decides he will just scratch at Scott's arm while wheezing "Ehhya! Ehhya! Ehhya!". Classic.A message to anyone who has viewed the movie before: Any of you realize how poorly the time line in the movie fits together? If not re watch it. Almost every other scene is Justin sleeping. One poorly thought out sequence that comes to mind is the caretaker segment. I leave it to you all to figure out what's wrong with everything...it's not hard...Brooks knows what I'm talking about... :)

The acting is mostly horrible. The lead is decent, though. The effects and editing are bad. The story is silly, with devil worshipers trying to "open the gate" to Hell and all that. The good guy is a psychic with knowledge of the occult and comes to fix the problem.So, if you look at it differently, there is a problem with a door and they call in the mystical locksmith. With a lot of mambo jumbo that none of us, non technical people, would understand, he fixes the door and everybody goes back happy.Am I joking? Not really. This movie is just as interesting as watching the locksmith fixing your front door and therefore I will stop here.

Rebecca (Rebecca Kyler Downs) has sank her every dollar into a lovely bed & breakfast overlooking the sea on the California coast. Unfortunately for her although ideal, the place doesn't yield much in the way of customers because strange things occur and the guests don't usually last past a few hours. Cue up the ghost hunters Scott and Justin who are going to get to the bottom of the satanic ballyhoo going on."The Black Gate" is a potentially interesting film that echoes several others (The Uninvited. The Amityville Horror, etc.) but it really doesn't develop anything beyond the occasional "boo scare". The acting is decent but bland. No stand-outs due mostly to a under developed script and minor direction. You would think that with the close confines of the place that they could generate some tension but alas that is not the case. The music track doesn't help much either when most of the time it seems to disappear along with your interest.

This film is finally coming out on DVD with awkwardly edited end credits to disguise how old it is. Despite its age no one has ever reviewed it or voted on it so it may have never really come out. (I'm writing this as of April 2005) A bed and breakfast is being haunted so the female owner has two guys come by to try to "de haunt" the place because no one will stay there. Jeff Rector is pretty good in the lead role of spiritualist one of his better performances. George Saunders is typically shallow.The special effects are a bit uneven in spots but hold up pretty well over all and are certainly a break for the twitching jump cutting approach to ghost stories currently in vogue.The transfer to video really dates the film more than any other elements other than maybe the music, but both of these elements lend a sort of vintage late night cable feel to the film that helps it.Maybe it's nothing great but it sure seems like a whole movie and is better than a recent groaner like Darkness.This is decent on all levels and worth a watch.