The Hellgate is creepy-crawly fun [MOVIE REVIEW]

‘The Hellgate’ is director DJ Remark’s dark tale of ambition and desire gone awry. It’s a heavy metal washout’s rager in the cemetery; a place where only the dead know what horrors are forgotten in the dirt.

Stacey Linux and Lillian Walsh are roommates producing their own podcast, Breakdowns and Body Bags, but their dwindling views have made them desperate to boost their sub counts. After a stressful closing shift, Lillian takes Stacey to a cemetery to take some photos. The next day, they realize their photo has a ghost in it and is gaining 1.6 million views. They have to go back for more proof, but the caretaker isn’t taking kindly to their poking around as he and the nefarious property agent are trying to revive his dead wife. Now, Stacey and Lillian will find that some truths are best left buried.

The film focuses on the downward trajectory that Stacey’s and Lillian’s lives have been heading. They are both stuck in the same town repeating a cycle that always ends where it begins inside the same apartment. They share the desire to get as far away as their podcast can take them. 

For better or for worse, they’re in the same hole. Their lives are at an existential point a lot of artists face where they have to decide whether to be passionate enough to survive. That’s what makes their struggle for their channel success seem like the only chance they have left. It made me sympathize with the pair as they put themselves deeper into evil’s path. They felt like real people who I would see at a bar talking about better days.

The creature effects were fantastic. They varied from the simple to the extravagant throughout the film and always felt well-used. Lillian’s 3 am walk where she is attacked by skeletons is a feverish scene. The skeletons' jerky movements add to the discomfort and threat of their attacks. Another scene that blew me away was Stacey having to fight off the worm-infested Chuck. It’s a slimy and heart-breaking struggle she has to wriggle out of. The makeup and movement were phenomenal; it’s a shocking sight that I wasn’t expecting.

Music is a big part of this film. The characters are either in the midst of banging their heads to some heavy metal or about to get ready to. It fits with the chaotic state of their lives. Stacey works at a guitar store with Chuck where they hear the same riffs played. Lillian works at a bar where the only way to stop a fight is to blast some tunes. It felt to me that it was the only thing these two had to protect themselves from the surrounding threats.

To me, the movie's shortcomings arise from the length of time it takes for the supernatural elements to appear and the low kill count. It takes its time fleshing out Stacey and Lillian along with their world, but it felt like it spent too much time in the ordinary world before we got to the extraordinary. Once the photograph appeared, then it felt like the horror story was unlocked. The movie has two kills, but each is done fantastically. I feel like if there were more, that the lethality of the threat would have been more poignant.

This film is a sweaty, chilling, and slimy watch. A tale of the misfortunes of the hopeless. You will never see worms the same way again. If you love to chase ghosts and head bang, go see The Hellgate.

7 out of 10.