45) Gate 2: Trespassers (1990)

"Who needs chicks when we got demons?"

Director
Tibor Takacs

Cast
Louis Tripp - Terry Chandler
Pamela Segall - Liz
James Villemaire - John
Simon Reynolds - Moe


The 1987 movie The Gate is one of my favorite horror movies from the 80s. I reviewed it a while ago.
Since then I had been searching for the sequel Gate 2: Trespassers (aka Gate 2: Return to the Nightmare) without any luck. But that luck changed when I happened to find it on Amazon Prime. I wasn't even looking for it there. I just happened to see it while browsing through other horror movies. Score!
It's the third horror sequel I've reviewed so far on this blog.
Actor Louis Tripp, who later changed his name to Baph Tripp, is the only returning actor. He's currently a musician now, but is known primarily for his work in The Gate movies.
Tibor Takacs also returns from the first film's director's chair to helm this sequel.
It has been five years since the events of the first movie. Terry (Louis Tripp) tells how he's been left to stare at his old friend Glen's house across the street, now boarded up after what happened in part one.
Glen and his family have since moved away.
Terry and his dad are still grieving the loss of their mom/wife. She died in the first, and Terry had that hallucination of himself hugging his dead mom which turned out the be a dead dog. Remember that?
Anyways, his dad has taken to booze pretty hard to heal the pain.

Also Terry has become deeply interested...obsessed...with the portal to hell he and Glen previously opened, and the powers that come with it.
The movie opens with Terry, sporting a blue sorcerer's robe, and conducting a dark ritual to open the portal again inside Glen's old house. He wants to capture that power by opening the portal the right way this time around.
During the ritual, he's interrupted by a teenager named John (James Villemaire), who's as cookie-cutter a bully as can be with grease-backed hair, low I.Q., and leather bike jacket.
With John is his girlfriend, Liz (Pamela Segall) and goofy sidekick, Moe (Simon Reynolds).
Liz is genuinely interested in Terry and his interests in demonology.

She convinces John and Moe to get in on the ceremony, which they do.

Louis Tripp in The Gate 2

Terry is successful in conjuring a minion like the ones in the first movie. But John freaks out, pulls out a gun and shoots it.
When they all leave, Terry picks up the lifeless body of the minion, takes it home and keeps it in a jar of formaldehyde .
During the ritual, everyone made small burnt offerings in order to have wishes come true.
The next day, Terry realizes his wish actually came true - that his depressed father (a former airline pilot) quits drinking and obtains a new job with an airline.
Liz comes by to see Terry, and they realize the minion can makes those wishes and more come true as well. So, she wishes for a new sports car and burns a small effigy of a car to make it happen.
But they soon realize those wishes, no matter what they are, will end by turning to crap - literally. Never trust a demon!
John and Moe see Terry and Liz driving around in their sports car, and John's jealousy boils over. He breaks into Terry's house, steals the minion, and he and Moe use it to wish for a lot of money.
As they're driving around, the minion gets loose in the car, and attacks John and Moe.
When they finally stop at a very exclusive restaurant to spend their large wad of cash, John and Moe soon realize that not only does their money turn to crap, they've also become infected by the minion.
They slowly morph into demons themselves, and kidnap Liz for a blood sacrifice that'll allow demons to dominate the world. It's up to Terry to make everything right.
The movie uses the same stop motion special effects like the first film. I really appreciate this style of effects. The amount of time and effort that goes into pre-CGI effects (stop motion particularly) is remarkable and praise worthy. It doesn't even matter how realistic it may or may not look. The work that goes into it is remarkable.
I felt the movie skidding too closely on dragging the story.
For a moment, I found myself thinking "where is this going." But it picks up and keeps the audience engaged and intrigued. It's a fun movie, just like the first, despite failing to live up to the likability of part one. But that's generally the nature of sequels.
The Gate 2 tries and succeeds to be its own story fairly well. It takes things in a new direction, certainly not attempting to be just another part one.
It takes the scary elements of the first film and gives us a closer look. Part two dives deeper into the details such as where the monsters come from, and what more they can do.
It's an entertaining movie with not nearly as much exposition as the first. The element of "Show! Don't tell" is utilized more in the sequel.
If fans of the first movie want to explore the demons a little more, and find out what else the gate can do, this sequel won't disappoint. Though the acting often seems scripted, who's really going into this for the acting?