A group of speleologists led by a Boring Old Man (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart in one of his final screen appearances) descends into the caves in search of their colleague who's suddenly vanished after spending 76 days underground as a part of some experiment. Down below they find a paperback of Umberto Eco's 'The Name of the Rose' and no trace of their fellow member. Before long, light bulbs and even video cameras (installed in the cave to monitor the progress of the experiment) begin to explode.
Veteran director tries to make up for the retarded story with regular firework displays and, for the most part, fails.
Lenzi's primitive time-waster was produced by Alpha Cinematographica, the same outfit that gave us some of the wonderfully awful 'Lucio Fulci presents' films.
John Carpenter famously created 'cheap scare' scenes by things suddenly popping up into frame or by racking focus to reveal something unexpected. Our beloved Umberto strives to achieve similar effect by employing the crash-zoom, which isn't exactly frightening but does have a certain charm.
HELL'S GATE was filmed (well, the above ground scenes of it) on the same location as Lamberto Bava's GRAVEYARD DISTURBANCE and Deran Serafian's INTERZONE.
Just don't expect fresh ideas or anything remotely frightening.
Better be content with occasional gore scenes and a cameo by the one and only Paul Muller.
True... nice, with many limitations, but nice...
ReplyDeleteIt gives a good idea of claustrophobia.
P.S. I have that edition of the book by Umberto Eco! :D
Vero... piacevole, con molti limiti, ma piacevole...
Dà una buona idea di claustrofobia.
P.S. ho quell'edizione del libro di Umberto eco! :D
Thanks for stopping by:)
ReplyDeleteI have some books by Eco, but haven't read any yet.
His stuff is supposed to be good. But I'm so obsessed with Nabokov and Simenon that it will take me ages to get round to reading Umberto...
Hey, Alex. I quite enjoy this one, too. I see the film as a veteran film maker using all of his creative tools, despite a low-budget. All of Lenzi's post-Nightmare City horror films are cold, and Hell's Gate is no exception. However, this one has a pretty good cast, some interesting atmospheric pieces, and overall enjoyable quality.
ReplyDeleteAgain, another fun and interesting review, Alex. Great work.
Thanks, man!
ReplyDeleteI do revisit Hell's Gate now and again and it seems to grow on me a little each time.
Very true about Lenzi's later films being cold.
Especially his two 'Houses of Doom' films.
Nightmare Beach is the one which I think is pretty lively, though.
No one ever takes an axe to the forehead in a Lenzi film. They always scream and turn away to get it in the back of the head (see also GHOSTHOUSE). The eye violence effects also seem to be the same in several of Lenzi's films.
ReplyDeleteThat's right!
ReplyDeleteThe axe in the back of the head effect is also used in Lenzi's BLACK DEMONS film a couple of times. The Old Maestro prefers to stick to the 'tried-and-tested' methods, I guess;)
I also find camera set-ups in a lot of his late 80's/early 90's work to be repetitive .
Forgot about BLACK DEMONS. Isn't there another pulled out eye effect in that one too?
ReplyDeleteWell, BLACK DEMONS is a forgettable movie...
ReplyDeleteYes, there is another eye-gouging in that.
Those brief gore shots are the films' sole merit.
Even direct sound doesn't help matters.
"Even direct sound doesn't help matters."
ReplyDeleteThat's because the lead actress is so bad (and the French guy). I remember Lenzi referring to one of the actors as great and not liking the other but I thought the two male leads were okay next to the whiny girl.
I tried re-watching Black Demons, but couldn't make it past the 30-minute mark. It's fatally lacking drive.
ReplyDeleteEric, have you seen Lenzi's TV films 'House of Lost Souls' and 'House of Witchcraft'?
I prefer HOUSE OF WITCHCRAFT. I believe the location belongs to a relative of Daria Nicolodi. Wasn't the Death Figure at the end the same one from GHOSTHOUSE? The lead actor Andy J. Forest is a Louisiana blues musician who also appeared in Tinto Brass' MIRANDA and CAPRICCIO, APPOINTMENT IN BLACK, and a couple other Italian titles during that time.
ReplyDeleteI found HOUSE OF LOST SOULS to be pretty awful. It did reuse Simonetti music from DEMONS and was considerate enough to kill off the awful kid actor in a gory fashion.
Thanks for some rare info!
ReplyDeleteWasn't the witch from House of Witchcraft played by the same actor who played a small demon emerging from Paola Cozzo's back in Demons?
I used to own these films on DVD but game them away to a friend who's a collector. I thought they were both really primitive films, but I liked Ferrando's cinematography in House of Lost Souls. Actually, this discussion is making me want to see those films again!
..hmm, I'm not sure I remember death figure in the end of House of Witchcraft , that film is a bit of a blur...
ReplyDeleteI'll have to dig out HOUSE OF WITCHCRAFT but I think it is the same skull face without the maggots seen on it in GHOSTHOUSE. I wondered where I had seen the witch's face before.
ReplyDeleteFinding borrowings and references in these films can be more fun than trying to properly watch them. I just sat through Door to Silence for the second time in my life - ouch! It doesn't seem to improve on repeat viewings. There's incidental music in it that sounds awfully like it came from D'Amato-produced Zombie 5: Killing Birds...
ReplyDeleteI believe the KILLING BIRDS score was reused in LA CASA 5, but Cordio's Korg keyboard scores run together. The score for DOOR TO SILENCE was by Franco Piana and the jazz cues he wrote were released on CD, but the synth music may have been Cordio filler (D'Amato reused some of Simon Boswell's STAGE FRIGHT cues, although the original Piero Montanari pieces were released on CD).
ReplyDeleteWow, the Franco Piana music was out on CD? Great, it's easily the most enjoyable aspect of Door To Silence for me.
ReplyDeleteYes, I recall the brilliant Boswell Stagefright music in Ghosthouse.
Mattei re-used Montanari's Ghosthouse music as late as 2007 in Zombie: la creazione!