This is hard retro 80s-wannabe horror, complete with a VHS-centered storyline. And it stars Barbara Crampton and that Chase Williams guy who played Dave in John Dies at the End. Aaaannnd that’s about it.
After establishing the 1992 parents and their two young sons celebratin the opening of their new mom-and-pop video store, we jump ahead. The NERD brother Gordon grown up, coming back home, and his kinda loser brother Johnny (Chase Williamson) still in town there, back to clear out the old family business. It IS an impressive collection of old VHS tapes and nostalgia. If only their father hadn’t gone missing 7 months prior. Sad. Then they find it back in the locked office. An obscure VHS board game. “Beyond the Gates” First watch, Seems a bit epilepsy-inducing. Then throw in Gordon’s west coast girlfriend in to join him and, well, new players are now on the board.
As a love letter to the olden analogue times of both VHS and board games and a nod to Fulci’s The Beyond, it’s nice for the documentins of the times I guess, particularly in this digital world we find ourselves in. A bit plodding with a kinda unimpressive performance by the nerd, and the horror moments are a bit sparse. Just two brothers reconciliating while fighting off demonic forces, yadda yadda yadda. A Devil’s Deal shop is also worked into the mix, it’s pretty pedestrian overall but they filmed it okay I guess.
