WATCH AGRAMON’S GATE:  ONLINE | ON ROKU

Richie (Kris Reilly) and Cassidy’s (Kaiti Wallen) are having a lil’ shindig, and they’ve had the seemingly shit-hot idea of hiring a psychic named Vesna (Aphrodite Nikolovski) to tickle the ol’ preternatural pickle and hopefully conjure up some grins.

Well ol’ V-dawg suggests the group have themselves a lil’ seance action, which leaves Rich a tad lukewarm, seeing as how he’s a skeptical bastard at heart. Well, as fate, and horror movie goings-on would have it, his instincts are right, as during that spirit chat sesh, some eerie entity or another decides our world is looks waaay better than nay demonic digs it now inhabits and decides to cross the veil right quick… and bad news, said presence may actually be the spirit of richie’s long-dead Pappy, which would really place the terror turd well and truly in the ol’ punch bowl!

Now just why wouldn’t that be a welcome family reunion, well… said father, Carter (Yan Birch fromThe People Under The Stairs) by name, was a bit of an asshole in the world of the living, and tried to kill his wife before being offed by junior.

Soon the putrid presence begins a stalk n’ slay affair with the party guests, and it’s up to Rich, Vesna, and a demon hunter named Zeb (Harley Wallen) to try and put the kibosh on the evil shennanigans hopefully before the jalapeno poppers and frozen crab rangoons come out of the oven!

Now as you can surmise, Agramon’s Gate plays with some tried and true tropes of our beloved horror biz, and I’m happy to report, it does this well. You get seances, demons, dark family secrets… all paraded out to great effect by a cast that is well and truly up to the task of carrying us through this joltin’ journey.

Also of note are some moments of grizzly gore, in particular a sinister sequence involving a heart getting torn out that is aces, as well as some fun world building and mythology that makes the narrative seemingly that more expansive.

On the downside, the ending of this picture is mega-abrupt, and seems to function as a set-up to a sequel we may never get. This feels a tad like a cheat after following the story for two hours, and I wonder just what the filmmakers were thinking with that one boils n’ ghouls.

That being said, Agramon’s Gate is a solid supernatural romp with a few twists and turns along the way, and I’d tell ya to give it a wicked whirl!

by DanXIII on July 30, 2019 on Horror Fuel

WATCH AGRAMON’S GATE:  ONLINE | ON ROKU

Jay Michaels talks terror with Jonny and Yeti of the Horror Basement Podcast on the Tennessee Horror Podcast Network.

https://tnhorror.com

Review by Jay Michaels

Spider Baby shouldn’t be good. It’s filmed like a early TV series in bland-style clack and white; the script is weird and sometimes makes no sense; the special effects are like you might find in a college thesis project – a bad one; and the best parts of it are overtly predictable.

So why is it a classic?

First, Lon Chaney Jr.

One of his final roles, Mr. Chaney plays the caretaker to a family that is comically murderous. In another actor’s hands, this role would have little impact, but watching Chaney – even at this latter time in his career – is like a master class of macabre characterization. Smiling but eyes darting with distrust or disbelief; man-with-the-plan calm marinated in what-if anxiety, Chaney commands every scene he inhabits. Beverly Washburn and Jill Banner play two psychotic girls under Chaney’s care. Somehow, the young actresses innately knew how in fuse humor with an almost overwhelming creep-factor with a bit of sexuality to make improbably murderous children into enjoyable characters. Their brother, an animalistic creature, could – again – be invisible like the appearance of two more monsters at the end of the film – but in the hands of the underappreciated actor Sid Haig, we can’t help but follow this dialogue-less character throughout the film. Haig didn’t get the recognition he richly deserved until toward the end of this life, but if you watch this film with a knowing eye you understand the brilliance.

The supporting characters – members of the “family” come to steal the inheritance  (there’s always an inheritance when you have a creepy mansion) are terrible. Overplayed, overdressed, overdone. BUT … taking their over-the-top portrayals as a form of parable, then you are forced to ask “who really are the murders” the savage children and Chaney or the greedy disinterested-till-$$ relatives. One might pen an entire report about how insanity when in the accepted majority is consider accepted and even popular and the ostracized normal can easily be altered by scorn, derision, and general polarization.

Spider Baby bears all the earmarks of a laughable monster film done on the cheap, but when you dig just a bit under the surface you see a deep character study and the forerunner of countless classic genre films especially Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The Madness Within

Spider Baby

Night of the Naked Dead