Hollow Gate



AKA: Hollowgate

A young boy named Mark, who was abused by his father and nearly killed by him one Halloween, grows up to be… Well, not so right in the head. His grandmother does her best to get him some help over the years, but the boy is just too far gone and has developed an absolute hatred for Halloween. So once he’s grown up, one ill-advised mention of a Halloween party by little old grand-mama is enough to throw him into a tailspin, and his subsequent murder spree leaves several innocent victims in its wake.



Hollow Gate is an American SOV (Shot-on-Video) film from 1988 that stars absolutely no one you’ll likely be familiar with, as most of the main cast went on to do absolutely nothing after making this film. Well, except for lead Addison Randall, who some might know from doing a lot of similar low-budget films, and Robert Gallo and James R. Sweeney, who both also seemed to have done a lot of low-budget films (like Hobgoblins, yeesh!), but also frequently appeared in other small TV and movie roles throughout the years. Oh, and the movie was also directed by Ray Di Zazzo, with this being his only known film. So, suffice it to say, you probably shouldn’t expect too much from this film. Or better yet, it might be best to not expect anything at all, because it’s kind of a cheesy mess and not scary in the slightest. In fact the scariest thing about the movie is probably right at the beginning before the movie even starts, because that’s when the Troma jingle plays. Thankfully it was only released by them and not produced but… Yeah, it’s still very, shall we say, unimpressive.



I will give the filmmakers credit for one thing though, I did like the concept they were going for. Here’s this guy who has been horribly messed up due to the childhood abuse by his father and the subsequent bullying by his peers, and one night he finally really snaps and hunts down some random kids, all while donning the relevant personas of the various costumes he’s ordered. Meaning at various points he’s acting like a demented soldier, a crazy redneck farmer, an asshole British aristocrat, and an evil scientist. So it kind of feels like they were going for a combination of something like Psycho or Split, crossed with The Most Dangerous Game. Which…is an unexpected combo, but I’ll admit a rather interesting one.



But the concept seems to have been the only thing that was well thought out with this film. ‘Cause goodness knows the plot sure wasn’t. There’s no buildup whatsoever as to why Mark became the way he did. Presumably his father did a lot more to him than just that one near-drowning incident we’re privy to. But that alone certainly doesn’t explain he’d want to go dressing up as other people, especially since he states at the beginning of the movie that he “hates Halloween.” So dressing up as multiple people on that very date seems very contradictory to that statement. And I guess the second scene is supposed to show how he was bullied by his peers, but the way these two chuckle-heads go about their bullying of him is…bizarre. Oh no you’re…making out in front of him? And what is handing Mark your girlfriend’s underwear supposed to accomplish, pray tell? Is that meant as a boast? A tease? Do they think it’s funny to get him all hot and bothered while they’re making out in front of him and paying him to watch? And what woman wants to hand the person they clearly think of as “the weird kid” their used underwear? I don’t know. But I’m already confused by most of the motivations going on, and we’re only a few minutes into the film. Well, most of the motivations, anyway. I totally get why Mark decided to light their gas can on fire and blow those two idiots up. They didn’t seem too bright, so it was probably for the best to remove those nitwits from the collective gene pool.


Good call, dude.

And the acting? That’s pretty predictably all over the place. Some of it is okay. Very community theater-ish. But there is also a lot of hamming it up in this movie. Like, A LOT. Randall plays up Mark’s madness with copious amounts of manic laughter and the wide-eyed bugged stare of someone who’s had way too many electro-shock treatments. And most of the other characters are either dull, sobbing all the time, or they treat every other one of their lines as if they think they are now performing the most dramatic role of their lifetime. Admittedly, it is immensely entertaining to see what everyone will do next, but it doesn’t really make for anything resembling a consistent performance.



And then there are the ‘little things’, which of course add to all the questionable low-budget, er, charm (Yeah, we’ll go with charm. That sounds nicer…). Why did nothing happen to Mark when he blew up that car? Why is Grandma, who supposedly has a lot of money, treating a latch hook rug as if it’s some grand tapestry?


I think I did one of these when I was 12…

How did that one idiot miss a whole-ass person hiding in a car that he’d just looked into? How does Mark keep finding these people on an estate so large that it appears to have not only a forest and golf course, but also a farm?


Yee haw, children.

I know those dogs are supposed to be mauling a guy to death, but it’s kind of hard to take their threat seriously when their tails are wagging so much. Why does Allen seem to think that ‘petting’ his friend will calm her down?


There there, dear. Let this condescending pat calm you down.

Why are these four fools running all over the place and putting themselves in danger? What happened to their perfectly good plan to follow the fence to try to find a way out? Will Dan and Mitch ever get their meatball subs? And perhaps the most crucial question of all: Why TF did they hire a 39 year old to play someone who started out as a teenager? Seriously, they have Randall play Mark in 3 separate time periods: 10 years after that initial Halloween party, 2 years after that, and then some undisclosed time later. How old is Mark supposed to be at any point in time? 20? Maybe? And they’ve got a balding, almost 40-something playing him? How slim was your talent pool, movie? It was like they were trying to create the Steve Buscemi meme before it became a meme.


How do you do, fellow kids?

So, as amused as I was with everything, Hollow Gate is pretty bad. Like, on the Psycho Slasher totem pole, this one would be on the bottom, partially buried by dirt. It’s low budget, it’s cheesy, it’s not very well thought out, the pacing is lackluster, and it has an awkward framing device involving the two police officers who eventually ride in to save the day. So at least I can say that the cops were useful in this movie. But as entertained as I might have been by all the strangeness, I know a lot of other people aren’t going to be. Especially if you come into this looking for a scary slasher, cause let me tell you, this ain’t that. But it does have some nice atmosphere and an over-the-top villain. So if you’re looking for a new Halloween-themed movie to watch and don’t mind the cheap quality or the weirdness, then feel free to give this one a try. But if you’re looking for something that’s actually meant to scare you, then steer clear, cause this surely ain’t it.

Hollow Gate is available on a variety of streaming services.

Hollow Gate is also available on DVD and Bluray from Terror Vision.

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