Le porte dell'inferno (1989)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Umberto Lenzi (story)
Olga Pehar (screenplay)

Release Date:

1989 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror

Plot Keywords:

Cave

Cast

Barbara Cupisti	...	Erna
Pietro Genuardi	...	Paul
Lorenzo Majnoni	...	Manfred
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart	...	Dr. Johns (as Giacomo Rossi Stuart)
Gaetano Russo	...	Maurizio
Andrea Damiano	...	Laura
Mario Luzzi	...	Theo
Paul Muller	...	Il monaco

Directed by
Umberto Lenzi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Umberto Lenzi		story
Olga Pehar		screenplay

Produced by
Antonio Lucidi	....	producer (uncredited)
Luigi Nannerini	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Piero Montanari

Cinematography by
Sandro Mancori

Film Editing by
Vanio Amici

Set Decoration by
Dario Micheli

Makeup Department
Gabriella Trani	....	makeup artist
Maura Turchi	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Marco Alfieri	....	production manager
Bruno Bagella	....	production supervisor
Stefano Trani	....	production manager

Sound Department
Giulio De Angeli	....	foley artist (as Giulio D'Angeli)
Francesco Zannoni	....	sound

Special Effects by
Giovanni Corridori	....	special effects (as Corridori)

Camera and Electrical Department
Luca Alfieri	....	camera operator
Fabrizio Faitanini	....	chief electrician
David Mancori	....	assistant camera (as Davide Mancori)
Gianni Savini	....	key grip (as Giovanni Savini)
Roberto Stiffi	....	generator operator

Other crew
Marco Alfieri	....	production secretary
Antonio Lucidi	....	cashier (as Antonino Lucidi)
Olga Pehar	....	continuity (as Olga Pehar Lenzi)

Production Companies

• Alpha Cinematografica (as Distribuzione Alpha Cinematografica)

Distributors

• Avo Film Edizioni (Italy) (VHS)
• Cinefear (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

Gate of Hell
The Hell's Gate (International: English title)

Runtime:

Sweden:90 min (PAL)

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Company:

Alpha Cinematografica

Cheap mess - but quite entertaining

The production values for this film which places the doors of hell in a cave must have been extremely low; probably even lower than in Umberto Lenzi's 'Black Demons' (aka Demoni 3) he made two years later.

There is not much going on in the film, and Lenzi doesn't even seem to try to deliver some thrilling atmosphere. At least there are some cheap but effective gore scenes that are strikingly similar to the gore FX in 'Black Demons' (the guy who did those is maybe only capable of faking gouging out eyes and splitting skulls with axes - who knows?).

And yet this mess is quite entertaining. It could be that the German dubbing is reason for my opinion, because the (uncut) German video version boosts such a bad dubbing that it delivers lots of unintended humor to please the viewer. This is pure trash, and people who want to see good films by Umberto Lenzi rather stick to his violent police thrillers of the 1970s.