This one landed in a funny place for me...however, overall I enjoyed it (with the knowledge that I do have a bias for period horror lol). It was decently atmospheric and I saw a lot of potential in what they created.
The Gates was a bit of a roller coaster as I saw it. I continually found myself engaged and invested... and the next second I found myself being pulled out of the moment. I think that this was mainly attributed to the script, the acting and some scenery.
While the script wasn't awful by any means, I felt it a bit hokey and underdeveloped at times and certainly didn't do the actors any favors. The acting was extremely hit or miss here. By far the best of the bunch was the uncle. He carried a lot of the weight of what was successful here on his back. Along with some side characters such as some prisoners, the antagonist and the rogue wife. Unfortunately a lot of the other actors were not as successful. The main paranormal investigator guy and his buddy didn't do the production many favors either. The buddy was stiff as a board with extremely stilted delivery but as a side character, that wasn't as detrimental. The main one really had a lot of responsibility here due to the size and importance of his role... and he just didn't do it for me.
I know that it is super difficult and often times expensive to pull off a period piece so kudos for that. The majority of the time it looked really great and convincing. Unfortunately, occasionally our modern day shown through and I was pulled you out of the moment a bit.
I also think that the plot could've been refined a bit. The foundation definitely felt like it was there, but it lost its way at times and became a little convoluted. There were many subplots and interactions that got thrown to the side and felt unnecessary. I noticed this the most with the niece. By not having anything come to fruition with her mother or her potential gift... It almost made her character unnecessary. The ending also fell off the rails a bit and required a good amount of suspension of disbelief... and a bit of suspension of understanding as well.
Now, while I know this feels overwhelmingly negative... while viewing this, you will find that a lot of these issues don't seem to be super detrimental or particularly deterring (at least for me). Also many of these are pretty common while enjoying an indie horror and can be looked past.
I think they swung really big with this movie and while it wasn't 100% successful, I think they created something that was cool, decently entertaining and a production to generally be proud of. While I would love to round up, for me this gets a 5.5 rounding down to a 5, would recommend.
The Gates was a bit of a roller coaster as I saw it. I continually found myself engaged and invested... and the next second I found myself being pulled out of the moment. I think that this was mainly attributed to the script, the acting and some scenery.
While the script wasn't awful by any means, I felt it a bit hokey and underdeveloped at times and certainly didn't do the actors any favors. The acting was extremely hit or miss here. By far the best of the bunch was the uncle. He carried a lot of the weight of what was successful here on his back. Along with some side characters such as some prisoners, the antagonist and the rogue wife. Unfortunately a lot of the other actors were not as successful. The main paranormal investigator guy and his buddy didn't do the production many favors either. The buddy was stiff as a board with extremely stilted delivery but as a side character, that wasn't as detrimental. The main one really had a lot of responsibility here due to the size and importance of his role... and he just didn't do it for me.
I know that it is super difficult and often times expensive to pull off a period piece so kudos for that. The majority of the time it looked really great and convincing. Unfortunately, occasionally our modern day shown through and I was pulled you out of the moment a bit.
I also think that the plot could've been refined a bit. The foundation definitely felt like it was there, but it lost its way at times and became a little convoluted. There were many subplots and interactions that got thrown to the side and felt unnecessary. I noticed this the most with the niece. By not having anything come to fruition with her mother or her potential gift... It almost made her character unnecessary. The ending also fell off the rails a bit and required a good amount of suspension of disbelief... and a bit of suspension of understanding as well.
Now, while I know this feels overwhelmingly negative... while viewing this, you will find that a lot of these issues don't seem to be super detrimental or particularly deterring (at least for me). Also many of these are pretty common while enjoying an indie horror and can be looked past.
I think they swung really big with this movie and while it wasn't 100% successful, I think they created something that was cool, decently entertaining and a production to generally be proud of. While I would love to round up, for me this gets a 5.5 rounding down to a 5, would recommend.