Gates of Darkness (2019) User Reviews

Borning & Slow.

[nebk · 3/10 · 31 May 2020]

Gates of Darkness is a very slow moving convoluted mystery drama horror starring Randy Shelly as Stephen Tade a rebellious teen at a religious school. His father supposedly left the family and his mother remarried and now he has a stepfather and stepsister in the family as well. He constantly gets into trouble and recalls something that happened when he was young. At a family celebration his grandmother commits suicide in front of the family and friends and things start getting even stranger. It's after this that it becomes apparent that Stephen also sees the ghost of his grandfather who passed away a month prior to that.

The movie also stars Tobin Bell as a Monsignour of the school and Adrienne Barbeau and John Savage as the Grandparents amongst others. The acting is fine more or less but the story is slow moving and takes a lot of time to actually get going and might not hold the interest of the viewers. There are visions of some sort of ritual, mentions of child abuse by the grandfather and a younger priest as we all as an exorcism in the end. The effects are mostly cheap and not very good. Ultimately all this combined basically reminds the viewer of better movies. It was nice for a change to see Tobin Bell playing a good character as opposed to the baddies he is known for usually portraying. But that's not enough to elevate the movie. A 3.5 out of 10.

Nothing outstanding in this demonic possession/exorcism movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 28 June 2021]

I must admit that I picked up the 2019 horror mystery "Gates of Darkness" as I saw the cover. And when I saw that both Tobin Bell and John Savage was on the cast list, of course I sat down to watch director Don E. FauntLeRoy's 2019 movie.

And while I did manage to sit through the entire movie, then writers Robert Hickman, Lesley-Anne Down, Chris Kanik and Randolf Turrow just didn't collectively manage to write an overly interesting or compelling storyline. Sure, it was watchable, but this movie was hardly an outstanding foray into the demonic possession and exorcism subgenre of horror movies.

It felt like the writers were trying to accomplish more than they were capable of delivering, and it definitely felt like they tried to cram everything that worked in previous demonic possession and exorcism movies into one movie, and that would be "Gates of Darkness". Yeah, well the movie just didn't really play out that way.

In fact, the storyline in the movie felt forced, wooden and as it was lacking a natural fluidity to it. It felt staged and awkward actually. And this reflected poorly on the actors and actresses, as they were struggling with an inferior script and storyline. And the fact that the character gallery in the movie was pretty weak didn't exactly boost their chances of delivering something grand either.

Now, it should be said that "Gates of Darkness" actually have a rather good ensemble of actors and actresses on the cast list, which includes the likes of Tobin Bell, John Savage, Adrienne Barbeau, Lesley-Anne Down and Mary Mouser. Just a shame that they had so very little to work with in terms of script, story and characters.

Visually then "Gates of Darkness" had nothing grand to offer. There weren't exactly an abundance of special effects or CGI effects in the movie. And whatever were there served their purpose well enough, but don't expect to be blown away by a grand display.

Ultimately then "Gates of Darkness" is not an impressive foray into the horror mystery genre, and this is the type of movie that you will watch once, and never again, only to completely forget about the movie existing. My rating of "Gates of Darkness" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Boring.

[neuroticpeacecorpse · 3/10 · 29 July 2020]

Positive: now i know there's a plastic surgery centre for nuns. Negative: 1h31min.

Bad to the point I was laughing at times.

[ostrichriderforever · 1/10 · 17 August 2020]

Shoddy effects that are more laughable than scary. Boring one note characters and acting isn't anything to write home about.

it also leaves the viewer struggling to differentiate between whos in control of Stephen at the moment as sometimes theirs no distinction between the four possessions?

Who's the antagonist in the film? The demon? The priest? The church?

The whole child molester/cult aspect makes no sense and leaves one scratching their head in confusion? It obviously wanted to hit upon the hypocrisy of the catholic church and the pedophilia that sometimes happens within but its a bit much.

Why were they after the father's soul if the son was the one being possessed?

Why would a demon care that a priest is molesting children? You'd think they'd like that evilness.

Why didn't they take their daughter to the hospital if she had a head injury that left her unresponsive?

Why was the twin sister taken if she hadn't undergone the ritual?

Why/how did the grandfather's ghost survive being killed two times in the movie?

Why was the grandma's apparition in a wedding dress? Why did she have lightning powers?

Why was the father bound to the house if he didn't do anything wrong, he tried to stop it?

Why the 80's slasher ending?

Did the whole family die!?

Why is the basement locked if its insinuated it was done in the barn?

WHY ARE THEY STILL GOING TO THE CHURCH WHERE THEIR SON WAS MOLESTED AND TORMENTED!?

Trash

[ferdmalenfant · 1/10 · 23 June 2020]

The only interesting thing about this movie was Adrienne Barbeau (played Carol on Maude) and they only gave her a small part. Third rate CGI's a bad script that goes nowhere and characters with no depth. Boring and oh so long.

What did I just watch?

[jhr2012 · 1/10 · 13 March 2021]

I have no idea? I couldn't keep the characters straight for one; white, black, boy, girl.....I guess this is today's modern family? The acting is bad, the special effects horrible. It's a mess.

Could be mistaken for a Lifetime movie.

[sgtbriman · 2/10 · 2 September 2020]

Shallow and generic. It plays out like it was written by an occasional chuch goer/lifetime movie enthusiast that wanted to try to tackle the topic of exorcism. I would probably classify it more comedy than horror or drama.

Like a Cheesy 80's Horror Flick 🎥 But Worse!!!

[knightox · 2/10 · 30 August 2020]

First off the acting by the "diverse" family members was laughable. The main protagonist, Stephen, was a kid with severe issues and personal problems way before he got possessed. Secondly, the special effects really looked like they were from the 1970's. And thirdly, why would a demonic entity be upset about the wrong doings of humans anyway? Yeah the whole plot/production was weak. I gave it two stars since the actors kept straight faces while filming it.

Very slow moving.

[ohbebe-65844 · 2/10 · 5 September 2020]

Very slow moving. This isn't even B rated it's more like D- rated. I expected more when I seen the actor from Saw played in it but he was the only thing that kept me watching. Snooze fest. Still don't quite understand what happened in the movie

All Things will be revealed.

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 18 August 2020]

Stephen Tade (Randy Shelly) is your typical teenager which means he acts possessed. His mom (Alexandra Davies) has remarried but is in love with Smirnoff silver. Alexa (Alisha Boe) is his hot step-sister which doesn't create any problems for him. Along with his sister Michelle (Mary Mouser) they all attend Catholic school. Stephen has numerous issues and the family and church have secrets.

This is said to be inspired by true events: Tobin Bell, John Savage, and Adrienne Barbeau all have fading careers. I liked the special effects at the end more than the silly ending.

Guide: F-word (not many). No sex or nudity.

Love Tobin Bell!

[jblocksom-90871 · 8/10 · 20 July 2020]

Tobin Bell crushed his role in this movie. I enjoyed seeing him play a character that he typically is not known for portraying. This movie was intriguing and created good insight to the secrets of the Catholic Church.

Uncomfortably good!

[jfjsales · 7/10 · 2 July 2020]

Kept me anxious and uncomfortable throughout - just waiting for something bad to happen encouraged by an effective sound score.

That went horribly wrong

[RandomTard · 2/10 · 29 June 2022]

I can tell, that they really tried to do something serious and great with this b-class movie - but oh my did it ever go wrong. It starts ok. We have this confusing modern family with some 25+ year old teenagers that go to this school that really is so absurd that you will just start wondering if this is going to turn out as a comedy after all.

Well they tried horror, that does not work at all - there is nothing horrory in this movie. They tried suspense, well that didn't work either. So what do we have? We have a movie that sucks so hard and gets so hilariously bad towards the end that you'll just wonder what the actual f did I just watch and more importantly WHY? It can't be unseen, sadly.

There are some decent actors here. The script is - well childish, outdated and ridiculously bad. Even the sounds are messed up pretty bad.

Tragically unbelievable

[stoenmatt · 10/10 · 1 July 2020]

Viscerally angering and scary as hell. A movie that makes you think, recall those kids you may have thought were "different"....

Exudes empathy while shockingly horrific. I will watch it again and recommend for sure.

Matt

Watching the trailer confuses the hell out of you.

[matrixausus · 7/10 · 15 June 2022]

A lot of attention is given to facial expression. It's hard telling good vs. Evil by the look alone, so this makes their attraction all more captivating (though the main character does have outlandish features, it will become a point of significance in the end). The editing makes it seem like the story jumps around. We are given quick clues as to the progression, as important scenes can be missed easily from the sequence. The main story arc resolves the pacing issues with background images. Whether this works as an effect may depend on your interpretation. After all, this movie leaves open the possibility that much of their spiritual phenomena occurred in the mind, although the exorcism and preternatural powers as limited in reality can still be observed. It's an interesting technique using the apparitions and praise must be given for tackling the issue of domestic/child abuse among the catholic clergy. The horrifying part is thinking it's inspired from real events and how it is not far from the truth in what could happen. Artistic liberties no doubt were taken. I'd rather watch digitally to control easier which scene you skipped.

Kept me feeling anxious, yet engrossed

[joelblocksom · 8/10 · 20 July 2020]

Interesting storyline unique to the horror genre. Kept me feeling anxious and expectant, thanks to great sound production. It was thought-provoking and suspenseful as well. A highly recommend movie night film!

Love seeing Tobin Bell and Adrienne Barbeau together on screen!

[saintnico · 8/10 · 23 July 2020]

I love Tobin Bell (from the SAW movies) and Adrienne Barbeau (the original Rizzo from the live production of Grease and cult classic horror queen) so I definitely jumped at the chance to see this one. It's dark subject matter and I found the creepiness to be a bit lingering, I watch a lot of horror but haven't seen anyone take this direction before.

Best exorcism film hands down...

[dainamariebradley · 8/10 · 2 August 2020]

Immediately hooks the viewer with great performances, writers and direction. The plot, which has been updated to be relevant, is excellently executed with pertinent subplots. The characters were easy to love or to despise. The viewer is drawn in for a wild ride, like a rollercoaster that you fear but don't want to end. I gave 8 stars because I would have preferred for the flashbacks to be longer, but they still succeeded in their purpose to give bits of information. The special effects were decent, and erviceable, not spectacular but lend more credibility to the setting. Overall, I enjoyed and highly recommend this film, as the plot, which so many have used, could have been trite but was not. As many movies of this genre as I've seen (such as the original "The Exorcist" at the theater), this one is a standout for me.

Good scary movie to watch with the kids.

[kennutley · 10/10 · 12 July 2020]

Scary but no too scary. Tobin Bell plays the head priest and is very believable in that role. Movie is good for the entire family.

Above average demonic possession horror fare

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 12 August 2021]

Sweet teenage girl Michelle (an appealing portrayal by Mary Mouser) suspects that her sullen and rebellious older brother Stephen (a solid performance by Randy Shelly) might be possessed. It turns out that Michelle's family shares a sinister connection with the Catholic church that's come back to haunt them.

Director Don E. FauntLeRoy relates the intricate and absorbing story at a steady pace, ably crafts an extremely tense, creepy, and unsettling atmosphere, maintains a daring dark tone throughout, and stages the exciting big exorcism set piece with skill and flair. Moreover, Stephen's angst and anger over being an outcast at school are well captures. The sound acting from the sturdy cast helps a lot: Tobin Bell as the devout Monsignor Canell, John Savage as cheery grandfather Joseph, Adrienne Barbeau as troubled grandmother Rosemary, Alexandra Davies as worried mother Emily, Lesley-Anne Down as the uptight Sister Clare, and Brandon Beemer as the disturbed Father Dumal. Well worth a watch.

Interesting twist

[rperry-38763 · 9/10 · 19 June 2020]

Movie keeps getting more suspenseful until the climax when all is revealed. Hard to figure the plot out until the end.