| The
Review: |
Movies like "Hell's Gate" make me
wonder why there is a genre set aside for direct-to-video
in the first place. I mean, I know theatrical movies can be
just as inane, ridiculous, and hammy, but where else would
you find a story about a crazed mental patient (Patsy Kensit)
who believes that she and Jack the Ripper were lovers in a
former life? And, to top that, she believes her married psychiatrist
(Patrick Muldoon) is the reincarnation of the famed killer!
He's just about to go on vacation at the behest of his wife
(Amy Locane) and daughter, so it should come as no surprise
that our young, nubile, English-accented villainess break
free of her restraints and begins a mad rampage of ripping
out people's organs, slicing people's throats, stomachs, eyes,
and more, all in her desperate search for her long lost beloved.
As it develops, it just becomes sillier and that much more
aggravating, building up to a calculated climax of bombastically
rotten proportions. As for the acting, it's what you would
expect: Kensit is expected to do little else except look sexy
with blood in her mouth, on her bodice, etc, while Muldoon
gives us no reason to believe in his acting ability. For those
who look for nothing more than T&A shots in their films, this
one should please, but for those who like some thought put
behind their horror, not to mention better production values,
all bets are off.
|
| Image
and Sound |
A so-so transfer, though one would
expect a little more from the sound. The score is one of those
aggravating pulse scores that jumps very high during an intense
sequence, while leaving things like dialogue and sound effects
in the distance. The images are okay for fullframe, but would
have looked much better if framed in widescreen. --
|
