MovieChat Forums > The Gate (1987) Discussion > As a technical achievement...how would y...

As a technical achievement...how would you rate this movie?

posted 16 years ago by DemonGate
8 replies | jump to latest

Just a random question. I only ask because I'm interested to find out what others thought of this film from an effects point of view. Was there enough "zing" in the visual effects to make up for the slightly mediocre plot? Also...what other film do you think The Gate equals in the special effects department? I don't know about you, but for me it's almost on par with Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist...another classic 80's spookfest. Comments?

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[–] MannyBad 16 years ago

The effects here are scarier than they would be if they were cg. I love cg but good horror should always use traditional methods

[–] Necrotard 16 years ago

As a technical achievement, I'd give it a 10. These effects scared the living hell out of me as a kid. I still find them pretty convincing, and some of them a little creepy to this day. I really hope the sequel uses old-school methods, or at least makes modern effects look like the old-school methods.

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Remember that time I ate your family?

[–] fire_bat777 16 years ago

Back when I was little and this was on HBO, the effects were quite impressive. This movie really scared the crap out of me! It's one of my favorite B movies, even though I'm not sure if it was meant to be a B movie...

Fire Bat
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[–] paultbaker 16 years ago

You know, I saw this movie in the theatre when it came out, and I have always remembered how great the SFX were. I just recently rewatched it on DVD, and I'm honestly surprised how well it holds up.

In particular the quality of the optical effects. The stop-motion little demons are pretty smooth, for SM, but the shadow & light effects used in the optical compositing are amazing. They're even better than the later, similar FX in 'Army of Darkness' (the many little Evil Ashes).

"Film is a mosaic of Time."
-A. Tarkovsky

[–] warren-1976 15 years ago

I was always really impressed with the way they blended from some full size live action shots of the actors, and panned down them over their leg, which was then cross-faded into a large scale model with guys in suits running around it to look tiny! The blending is practically seamless, especially considering when this was made. And the stop motion work is fantastic considering it's not Harryhausen or Tippet, especially for the large demon/god at the end (And occasionally for the little demons, and small effects like when the demon hand breaks off and turns into tiny worms that shoot under the door. The little demons were mostly guys in suits)

It's a real shame there isn't a good quality dvd of this (All I can get is a poor quality cropped 4x3 version that looks like VHS) Preferably I'd love to see a special edition with a commentary and a few special effects features and maybe interview a few actors. I actually taped a special effects program years ago that covered the creation of the large final demon. All very impressive!

Time enough for the earth in the grave!

[–] bhobnine 13 years ago

They were serviceable for the budget constraints. I found them rather quaint. Stop action animation, rubber suit work, some decent practical make-up, some Nickelodeon slime. Totally preposterous yet maintaining its entertainment quotient. Think I saw this at the drive-in, watched it again the other night. Falls under the guilty pleasures catagory. Adjusted for inflation, made like 25 million at the theater, maybe cost 1.5 to make.
"Pffft, my suspension of disbelief has higher standards than that"

[–] cambot882 12 years ago

I was impressed by how smooth the stop motion was. For a budget movie this was very impressive.

* God is an imaginary friend for adults. *

[–] tobisama 9 years ago

This movie has 10/10 in FX, great stop motion animation (the big demon), those skies were awesome, the reminded me a little bit of the ones in Neverending Story.

About the little demons, most of the times they were people in rubber suits, with a great chroma key. That's what makes them so good, with very realistic and organic motion.