WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Pushing beyond the boundaries. How many times can we potentially count the ways we saw a challenge only deemed as “something fun to do” only to end up finding out that the end result was not at all what we expected, much less desires to have lasting ramifications from? Lessons learned the hard way can sometimes keep haunting you. For a couple named Richie and Cassidy (Kris Reilly & Kaiti Wallen), inviting psychic Vesma (Aphrodite Nikolovski) to their house party for entertainment seemed innocent enough. But, when things take a drastic turn and an otherworldly evil, Agramon (Calhoun Koenig), enters their reality, it becomes a fight for their lives to rid our world of its presence before it’s too late to prevent the spreading darkness.
Next, my Mind:
The horror genre maintains its “hit or miss” status for this critic, as having been immersed in the medium’s realm for a relatively short period of time, witnessing films that truly work or deliver on what I find to define my expectation and specific style within it all has been increasingly difficult when masterpieces (in my opinion, mind you) like “The Conjuring”, “Lights Out”, “Hereditary”, and “Midsommar” have created a whole new level that is hard to match, no matter what level of filmmaking we’re discussing. So, here, with this recent indie effort from prolific writer/director/producer Harley Wallen, co-producer Nancy Oeswein, and executive producers Annette Cama and Scott Huard, I entered with intentionally muted hopefulness.
What we end up with, as with so many similar genre efforts overall, is a solidly executed feature film that more than certainly leaves itself open to continuation narrative-wise while not necessarily treading on any new ground via its thematic exploration of a group of people choosing to play around with what seems on the surface innane and turns out to be anything but. With growing consequences and desperate attempts to right the wrong they’ve done upon having unwittingly unleashed an ominous supernatural force bent on slowly building chaos and death as it sees fit to impart upon those who directly or indirectly released it from its unearthly dimension, events come forth in the ways you would anticipate, with nothing truly surprising along the way.
Yet, there’s just an undeniable effectiveness that this particular style of horror brings with it, from the utilization of the menacingly foreboding whispering voices, to the random noises which interrupt everyone’s peaceful homes, to rearranged items in kitchen and bedroom floors, all of it leading to ultimate confrontation with the source of said disturbances that, I felt anyway, was perfectly presented here with enough visual impact to make one realize you’d never, ever wish to actually encounter something remotely like this in real life, as the sheer creepiness and total unease it would cause you really is unthinkable and chilling. As hinted above, the story here is a slow build, and you need to have the patience to bear with it to get to the “nastier” stuff later on in the film.
Even once we’ve arrived to that point, I do greatly appreciate that the levels of actual violence/gore content remains palatable and more for milder but useful shock value as opposed to an all-out blood fest, which this critic personally cannot stand. The film is trying to rely on what I have more and more felt is the needed element in good horror–tension. It’s that palpable, tangible, perceptible sense of unsettled fear you feel that makes the viewer edgy and squirm in their seats, and while I do have to say this film didn’t always fully succeed in creating that needed atmosphere, I can at least applaud the efforts made to do so. It’s so hard to “make” that essence come to life, and why I do give credit to indie filmmakers for having the passion and drive to try in ways that feels genuine, even if not always completely succeeding.
As with many of this director’s works, it’s a large ensemble cast in play. Reilly and Wallen do a fine job as the couple Richie and Cassidy, whose totally harmless attempt to liven up their house party via inviting a psychic to read people turns decidedly bad when they and a set of friends decide to hold a séance instead. Soon, it is a race against time for Richie and Cassidy to save themselves and their friends from the dark force pursuing them all. Nikolovski does an equally solid job in her portrayal of Vesma, the psychic who visits at Cassidy’s request and initially provides the means of entertainment everyone expects, skeptics and all, until allowing them to all do the séance that opens the door for an unholy force to enter the earthly plane.
Jessika Johnson and Francisco Posada play Madelyn and Cameron, a couple and friends of Richie and Cassidy’s who get unwillingly swept up in the nightmare that ensues thanks to just being present during the entity’s arrival. Harley Wallen is Zeb, a demonolgist/hunter and friend to Vesma who gets enlisted to help take on the demon. Laurene Landon is Sharon Stann, Richie’s mother in an asylum due to a less than starry past incident that has returned to haunt them all. Yan Birch is Carter Stann, Richie’s father whose appearance here plays a key role in the grander telling of Richie’s family’s jaded story. Let’s of course not forget Koenig in her pivotal and well-played role as Agramon, the demon who makes everyone’s existence a torment, physically and spiritually, with a look that is definitely frightening and eerie thanks to the use of more practical effects work rather than all CGI. In many respects, Koenig steals the show.
Additional supporting characters arrive in force from Angelina Danielle Cama, Stacey Saunders, Chevonne Wilson, Peter Knox, Whitney Wagner, Jennifer Jelsema, Troy Randall-Kilpatrick, and Nick Sarelli among a host of others. In total, “Agramon’s Gate” is a decently executed horror film that has its fair split of strengths and weaknesses but still ultimately reflects the heart of determination and persistence the indie film community consistently presents, which for this critic has become key when assessing the offerings that emanate from it. As to all those I’ve seen completely trash efforts like this, I think it always offers only one solution and challenge–as I know I used to BE one of those people, but now understand what it takes to even MAKE a film and can appreciate it SO much more–let’s see you do better.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
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