Devil's Gate (2017) Reviews

• Nuthin New on the X Files Front

  Tweetienator2018-01-07

  A mystery thriller with solid acting, solid production (tv-scale) and well, a story that boild down to its core is VERY standard (todays term: generic) and predictable, even the end is a genre cliche par excellence. Anyway, if you like such movies with a little X Files taste, you may dare to watch, it won't kill you, but just don't expect anything outstanding like some of those super-positive (fake!?) reviews try to sell you. An okay watch for a rainy afternoon with nothing else to do.

• A low budget attempt at creating Invasion of the body snatchers with a dash of creatures resembling from The Pack (2010). 7/10.

  Fella_shibby2018-05-06

  Saw this on a pirated dvd few days back. Been on my radar for a very long time after watching the trailer. The film starts with a driver whose car breaks down in the middle of nowhere n he approaches a farm house which is the only single house in an isolated country side. The place n the house has an eerie vibe to it. Good opening with a sense of dread. The driver tries calling out but nobody responds. He hears some sound from the basement n he steps on a bear trap. He painfully manages to remove his leg but ....... This shud b suffice as i want others to watch this well made, low budget horror film. Minor drawback is that the film has very less bodycount, tension is lost during the final scenes as the confrontation wasnt that creepy. The star cast is decent. Shawn Ashmore apart from X-men has become more synonym with horror/thriller films. His twin brother's film The Shrine is one of my fav horror film. This film has shades of The Pack (2010) n Blood Creek aka Town Creek, both good horror films. One may also find shades of Invasion of the body snatchers.

• Devil's Gate: Passable entertainment

  Platypuschow2018-01-11

  Set in the fictional town of Devil's Gate a federal agent teams with a local officer to investigate a missing wife & child. Trouble is their investigation leads them to the unbalanced husband and his trap filled home. I expected horror, it was advertised as horror..........it's not really. Milo Ventimiglia and Shawn Ashmore star in this interesting but ultimately flawed sci-fi movie which looks great but lacks in too many areas that matter. Jonathan Frakes from Next Generation also stars and is particuly good, shame his role was a tad too small. I liked the plot I did, even though I'm not a big sci-fi guy I think they did a good enough job here and left it open for potential sequels. Sadly it doesn't flow all too well and something just didn't sit right for me. Watchable effort and this may really appeal to some, for me it was a deeply average offering. The Good: Decent plot Jonathan Frakes Great opening sequence The Bad: Poorly paced Seriously, stop killing pets in every damn movie Things I Learnt From This Movie: Milo Ventimiglia plays unhinged characters far too well I would happily live in that house, yes I'm weird

• Surprisingly Good and Underrated Sci-Fi Film

  claudio_carvalho2018-01-13

  FBI Special Agent Daria Francis (Amanda Schull) is assigned to travel to Devil's Gate, a small town in North Dakota, to investigate the disappearance of Maria Pritchard (Bridget Regan) and her son Jonah. Her prime suspect is the husband and father Jackson Pritchard (Milo Ventimiglia), who lives in a farm in the middle of nowhere. However Sheriff Gruenwell (Jonathan Frakes) asks Francis to let Jackson alone since he would be a good man. Deputy Conrad 'Colt' Salter (Shawn Ashmore) heads with Francis to interview Maria´s sister and she leaves her house convinced that Jackson may be hiding them. When they arrive at his farm, Jackson assaults Maria and she enters the house to investigate, and finds a weird thing. What is Jackson hiding? "Devil´s Gate" is a surprisingly good and underrated sci-fi film. The screenplay is intriguing and the lead cast (Amanda Schull, Shawn Ashmore and Milo Ventimiglia have good performances. The conclusion after the initial credits is a cliffhanger for a possible sequence. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): Not Available

• I wish I liked this more...

  Kolobos512018-01-07

  Devil's Gate is a new genre bending horror film. It's creative and unique, you'll start watching it and never in a million years guess where it's going, and it has a solid cast. So why doesn't the movie work? Well, first, there's the script. It really needed more work. The basic story is that a woman (Bridget Regan of The Last Ship) and her young son have disappeared from their remote farm house. The investigation is going nowhere so a fed (Amanda Schull of 12 Monkeys the overrated TV show) is dispatched to investigate. She is partnered with a dim local cop (Shawn Ashmore of The Following) along the lines of Scream's Deputy Dewey. They begin their search and, despite strenuous objections from the local Sheriff (Jonathan Frakes of Star Trek The Next Generation), the look into the husband (Milo Ventimaglia of This Is Us). He's weird, he has a temper, their marriage was unhappy, his house looks like Leatherface should be hanging around in the attic, he has elaborate traps laid all around, and he has SOMETHING caged up in the basement. So you're probably thinking standard psycho story, right? Wrong. The movie has some pretty dramatic twists from there and, without giving away too much, develops a cosmic horror plot thread I actually really liked. Or, wanted to like anyway. Devil's Gate throws so much at you that it never stops to develop any of its ideas. Or its characters. Another problem is that despite having a better than average cast, they're all playing one note stereotypes. The movie also has serious pacing problems and can't be bothered to fully develop any of its truly interesting ideas. The films also really stretches its budget. While there are some fantastic practical effects, there are also some really lousy digital ones. Devil's Gate it a frustrating movie that frankly should have been a lot better. The ideas are there, the cast is there, but the director and screenwriters just can't pull it all together. My recommendation, watch The Void instead.