I was a little too old for The Gate when it came out in 1987. I loved monsters, which the film provided in tiny little spades, but the PG-13 rating didn’t cut it for this growing bloodhound. And at the time I didn’t understand the sublime joys of Stephen Dorff, since he was still just a kid and not yet Stephen Dorff. So I watched the Canadian tale of some kids who open up a gate to hell in their backyard, unleashing a horde of itty bitty demons, but I never quite ‘got’ it.
Maybe I have a second chance. The Gate has entered the remake sweepstakes, and it has an interesting pedigree. According to the Twitter feed of Production Weekly, the movie is being remade by Alex Winter – Bill S. Preston, Esquire, from the Bill & Ted movies – and will be in 3D. Yes, 3D. This fad has some legs.
Will the remake be PG-13 as well? I imagine so. Will it feature Stephen Dorff? I can’t think of a single good reason it wouldn’t. Will the yiddle demons be practical? I hope so – Winter has some experience with practical FX as the director of Freaked, and I think little monsters in 3D are more effective if they’re real as opposed to pixelated.