Beyond the Gates (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Jackson Stewart
	Actors: Graham Skipper, Chase Williamson, Brea Grant
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror
	Conditions of visioning: 31.05.2017, Cine Santander Cultural, FANTASPOA2017
Synopsis: The brothers John and Gordon (Skipper, Williamson) have gone different paths since they left home. They have to meet again to empty their father's video store after he has disappeared for six months. In his office they find a mysterious board game that includes a video tape to play...
Review: This movie embodies a reason why I love to go to (Fantastic) movie Festivals: you get to see independent films which are not formatted for the usual Hollywood audience and in spite of that (or maybe thanks to that) look very serious, are well made and tell an original story in an original way. The story of Beyond the Gates plays on the nostalgia of some of us for the 80's-90's, not the nostalgia for the Amblin/Spielberg-style movies like the TV-series Stranger Things does so well, but more the nostalgia of going to a video-store and not knowing which pearls you will find in there. Playing with nostalgia seems to be a recurrent topic nowadays. Jackson Stewart's first movie (waw, kudos to that) is quite simple and straight-forward, one could say predictable (the two brothers that all separate will of course get closer), but is honestly presented and punctuated by a few horrific scenes that do not at all constitute the main attraction. In spite of the slasher-style for the movie poster (another reference to the 80's in the colors and design in fact) and the taglines "Press PLAY... And Pray" or "Play the Game if you dare", this is not a slasher movie. More of a family Drama and Mystery with a Fantasy and Horror background. I found it to be a good merging between all the elements, and I loved the idea of the board game and the spooky video tape that goes with it (see picture below). Surprisingly for such a movie there is also not much Comedy in it. I enjoyed it a lot.
Rating: 7 /10 Beyond the Gates, the board game.