The Stranger Things victory lap is about to continue with the premiere of Season 5, Volume 2, which drops this week. After nine years of the hit Netflix series, the Duffer Brothers’ creation is nearing its big finale, leaving me wondering: What’s next? Sure, there’s a spinoff project in the works, but if you’re anything like me, you’re probably going to want to keep the Upside Down vibes going after the end credits roll.
Allow me to suggest a weird yet fun ’80s kids’ horror movie that actually premiered in the ’80s. Like this season of Stranger Things, the film I’m referring to also takes place in 1987, has a similar title card aesthetic (that same red on black font) and if you go back and revisit Season 2, you’ll even find an episode named after the flick.
It’s called The Gate, and if you can get past the dated effects and cheesiness of some of the scenes, I’m here to say the 85-minute movie is the perfect companion to Netflix’s global hit series. It’s currently streaming for free on Tubi.
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The Gate stars Stephen Dorff (yes, that Stephen Dorff) as a 12-year-old boy named Glen who, along with his heavy metal-loving, nerdy friend Terry, discovers a gateway to Hell in his backyard. The removal of a pesky tree opens the portal, and as soon as Glen’s parents head out of town for the weekend, weirdness ensues.
Stephen Dorff and Louis Tripp star in 1987’s The Gate.
Glen’s sister Alexandra is left in charge, and, as with most ’80s teen movies, she throws a party. What better way to pit a group of mismatched teens against a demonic force with no parental intervention in sight!
The kids end up banding together into a crew of unlikely heroes, ready to fend off the forces of the underworld. Sound familiar?
The Gate was one of those movies from my childhood that felt like a spookier version of Poltergeist, thanks to the ethereal behind-the-camera work by genre director Tibor Takács (anyone remember I, Madman?). There’s a soft, smoky feel to the movie’s production quality that makes it easier to accept its crazy premise. These kids are living in a nightmare, and demons are knocking at the door.
I suppose the main thing that makes The Gate work well is Dorff’s portrayal of Glen. As bizarre as things get — there’s a sequence in The Gate that is on the same level of traumatizing as the face-melting scene in The Raiders of the Lost Ark — Glen remains grounded. You feel his trauma, his terror, his resolve. The Gate is an early example of Dorff’s talent as an actor who can command the camera’s attention. He carries this movie with every tortured reaction he delivers.
I sometimes find myself pondering the key factors that make Stranger Things so successful. On one end, there’s the Stephen King-style horror of it all. On the other, the ’80s period tone and setting have infused the show from the very beginning. Melding those aesthetics together, while incorporating pop culture references to everything from The Terminator to A Nightmare on Elm Street, and still delivering a show that can tug at the heartstrings and appeal to a wide range of ages, is quite the achievement.
Tiny demons run amok in 1987’s The Gate.
There are seeds of that sort of tonal mashup in The Gate. It’s absolutely a horror movie, but there’s also childlike wonder. One moment, you have Terry dorking it up for levity’s sake, only to have to movie flip the script and find the friends attacked by giant hands that pop out from under Glen’s bed. It’s a scene that plays into real childhood fear, and the film’s practical effects achieve terror successfully.
Remember, this movie was shot in the ’80s, so the special effects are absolutely dated. Yet it also delivers some standout moments. In one of The Gate’s most famous scenes, tiny demon minions erupt from a larger demon as it collapses to the floor. It’s a scene that, along with the big bad reveal in the third act, would probably make special effects legend Ray Harryhausen tip his hat in approval.
In the end, Glen and crew end up defeating the demonic threats with nerdy grit. Before the Hellfire Club challenged the Demogorgons in Hawkins, Indiana, these kids used their knowledge of heavy metal lyrics and rocket-making skills to give monsters the what for.
No, I’m not trying to tell you that The Gate is on the same level as Stranger Things. As a low-budget film made nearly four decades ago, it’s limited by the resources available at the time. That said, you can see the tonal breadcrumbs that lead to Netflix’s genre-bending hit.
Before kids’ entertainment had the guardrails we see today, The Gate came through with a blend of horror and fantasy that both appealed to and unsettled the children of my generation. It’s a movie that leans into some intense moments of dread while throwing together young heroes who thwart evil. For a cult ’80s horror movie, it was surprisingly inspirational to me as a kid. And all these years later, I’m surprised to say, it still holds up.
