It really doesn't get much better than 80's Horror, does it? Maybe it wasn't the all around best era as far as quality goes, but it was the most fun. The genre was also at it's most marketable, as well. In those days, Horror was everywhere, and at one point, that didn't look to be changing any time soon. So, what the hell happened? Long story short, '88 and '89 happened!
Stepfather II happened, Iced happened, Moonstalker happened! I could go on and on. SO many Horror films were being made by now, and SO many people were making them. Some of these people weren't even directors, and some of the actual directors probably shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the Horror genre. An abundance of bad Horror is a bad thing, now, you ask? No, not exactly. In '88 and '89, there just wasn't a huge difference between mainstream Horror and B-Horror. It was all cheesy, meant to be more fun than scary, but more often than not, late 80's Horror, in general, was completely uninspired and bland. Just going through the motions, waiting to be put out of its misery before it can ultimately be reborn into something better. Today, we're going to talk about one of the last gasps of breath from the peak of the Horror genre. A useless pile of schlock called Hollow Gate. A movie, I, personally, find very entertaining. Although I'm probably in the minority.
Hollow Gate begins on Halloween, but this isn't exactly a Michael Myersesque story, though, as much as it might be trying to get there. At his own Halloween party, some kid, who sucks at apple bobbing, shames himself and his family by making the mistake of taking a crack at it. Seriously, this kid really sucks. His father, who may or may not be drunk, can only take so much of this, and does what any drunken, abusive father would do in his position: He attempts to drown the little fucker!
If only drunk 'ol dad had succeeded. What happened to Mark Walters that night was apparently the beginning of his descent into madness. The next few scenes only confirm this, as a decade older version is lightly picked on by a couple from school, at the gas station he works at. Mark retaliates by blowing up the car ... while the couple was still in it. I guess Mark has a tendency to overreact. And who knows where he gets that from? So, I guess Mark somehow managed to get away with this murder because we now fast forward another two years, and nothing. Mark now has the hots for some girl whom he wants to take out for ice cream. She's not interested, claiming to not like ice cream, but I think she's just not into guys who look like they might be related to Clint Howard. Mark ... does something to her. It doesn't really show us, but I'm sure it was bad, going by his short track record. And in a shocking twist, Mark, later on, kills his own grandmother. Poor grammy never did Mark wrong, which tells us he's finally made it to full-fledged insanity.
It takes forever for all of this to wrap up and for the story to finally begin, but after a good half hour, we're finally there. We are now introduced to some overwhelmingly bland teenagers, none of which stands out in the least as a potential main character. That task is left solely up to Mark. These characters suck hard and are nothing more than a product of this era in horror. The teens are headed to a Halloween party, but are talked into delivering some costumes to a nearby estate on the way. This estate happens to belong to Mark's grammy, who, as I pointed out, is dead, so, for the time being, this is Mark's estate. Once in there, an electric gate is switched on, keeping everyone within the confines of Mark's weird game where he stalks and kills them in various costumes, not unlike the killer from Class Reunion Massacre.We are never given one reason to give two shits about the victims, so, all we can do is sit back and laugh at these people trying like hell to act like they're scared for their lives. Even for those of us who enjoy bad Horror films, this particular one can be a hard one to tolerate, but it's certainly not devoid of entertainment value. My favorite example being the part where Mark sicked the dogs on the terrified teenagers, and out comes, I shit you not, a couple of Golden Retrievers. Watch as they immediately become the best actors in the movie. Like so many films from this era, Hollow Gate is someone's first and last attempt at filmmaking. Just passing through, seeing if there's anything left to milk out of this dying genre. Perhaps there was for someone. Not for you, Pal. No, not for you. 3/10
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