Welcome to the ’80s, Population: Dead
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Jumanji and The Ring had a weird VHS baby raised by a pack of haunted board games from the Reagan era, congratulations—you’ve basically imagined Beyond the Gates.
This 2016 indie horror gem is a loving, blood-splattered ode to the analog age, back when horror movies came in chunky plastic boxes, everyone had bad hair, and “interactive entertainment” meant yelling at your VCR to rewind faster.
It’s equal parts goofy, gory, and heartfelt—like a lost episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? written by someone who takes their Ouija board way too seriously.
Director Jackson Stewart doesn’t just pay homage to ’80s horror—he drags it out of the attic, plugs it into the nearest CRT television, and watches it come alive with all the charm of a demonic game show host.
And that host? Barbara Crampton, of course.
Plot: Play the Tape, Lose Your Soul
The story follows two estranged brothers—Gordon (Graham Skipper), the responsible one, and John (Chase Williamson), the lovable screw-up—as they reunite to clean out their missing father’s old video store. The place is a shrine to VHS nostalgia, complete with dusty shelves, neon lights, and that unmistakable smell of decaying plastic and regret.
While rummaging through the relics of cinematic yesteryear, they stumble upon a mysterious VCR board game called Beyond the Gates. Think Clue meets Hellraiser, with worse customer support.
When they pop the tape in, the TV flickers to life, and out appears Evelyn (Barbara Crampton)—a creepily composed, possibly undead hostess who looks like she wandered off the set of a haunted infomercial. Evelyn informs the brothers that their father’s soul is trapped “beyond the gates,” and if they want him back, they’ll have to play her little game.
What follows is a series of bizarre, gory “quests” that blur the line between board game rules and supernatural carnage. Each card the brothers flip brings another key to collect—and another person to die horribly, often by unseen VHS voodoo.
The rules are simple:
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Play the game.
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Do what the tape says.
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Don’t question why your friends are suddenly exploding.
Naturally, chaos ensues.
The Players: Dysfunctional Brothers and One Brave Girlfriend
At its core, Beyond the Gates isn’t just a horror movie—it’s a family therapy session with more stabbing.
Graham Skipper’s Gordon is the uptight brother, all bottled rage and unprocessed trauma. He’s the guy who color-codes his existential dread. Chase Williamson’s John is the opposite—a charming slacker who drinks, jokes, and steals ceremonial daggers from occult stores, as one does.
Together, they form the perfect dysfunctional duo—one trying to repress his past, the other trying to pretend it never existed. Watching them bicker over VHS tapes while dodging supernatural death traps is weirdly delightful, like a Ghostbusters reboot starring your two least emotionally stable cousins.
And then there’s Margot (Brea Grant), Gordon’s long-suffering girlfriend, who deserves sainthood for sticking around. She gets dragged into the nightmare because she thinks playing a demonic board game “might be fun.” That’s the kind of optimism that kills people in horror movies—but somehow, she survives with her sense of humor intact.
Barbara Crampton: The Hostess With the Most(ess) Terror
Let’s be clear: this movie belongs to Barbara Crampton.
As Evelyn, the spectral game host, Crampton doesn’t just steal scenes—she vaporizes them with perfectly enunciated menace. Appearing via VHS tape like a demonic home-shopping presenter, she exudes that uncanny valley mix of warmth and evil. You half expect her to pause mid-monologue and offer you a deal on soul insurance.
Every time she materializes on-screen, you can feel the movie grin. Her dialogue drips with seductive dread: “Would you like to play a game?” has never sounded less like Saw and more like Satan offering you a good time.
It’s campy, it’s theatrical, and it’s absolutely perfect.
The Style: Nostalgia With Teeth
Stewart’s direction hits the sweet spot between homage and parody. The film is drenched in neon and bathed in analog fuzz, evoking those midnight cable horror flicks you weren’t supposed to watch but did anyway.
From the synth-heavy score to the grainy VCR aesthetic, Beyond the Gates is a love letter to the era of rewinding tapes and losing your soul to the glow of a cathode ray tube. It’s what would happen if Stranger Things had a VHS addiction and fewer child actors.
The practical effects are gleefully old-school—gooey disembowelments, exploding heads, and enough fake blood to drown a Blockbuster Video. You won’t find sleek CGI ghosts here; this is handmade horror, complete with rubber organs and dripping walls.
Even the jump scares feel charmingly analog, like the movie’s creaking from inside the VCR trying to get out.
The Themes: Death, Regret, and Rewinding the Past
For all its throwback fun, Beyond the Gates isn’t just about killer VHS tapes—it’s about confronting the ghosts of family dysfunction.
The brothers aren’t just fighting undead drifters; they’re exorcising the guilt and grief their father left behind. Their father’s disappearance is symbolic of emotional neglect, and the cursed game forces them to dig (literally and figuratively) into their buried pain.
When Gordon finally confronts the ghoul of his father, he doesn’t just stab a monster—he performs an exorcism of repressed resentment. It’s catharsis by way of splatter.
And then, of course, there’s Evelyn’s closing line: “Stop thinking about the dead, and think about the living.” It’s the kind of advice you’d expect from a therapist—or a cursed VHS hostess with great cheekbones.
The Humor: Laughing in the Face of Ectoplasm
Part of the film’s charm is how self-aware it is. It knows it’s ridiculous, and it revels in it. When Hank, the resident creep, meets his messy demise, it’s both gruesome and deeply satisfying. When the cop’s head explodes after someone pulls a key out of a plastic figurine, you can’t help but laugh through the splatter.
The dialogue has that perfect blend of sincerity and absurdity that made ’80s horror so fun. Lines like “We have to finish the game!” are delivered with Shakespearean conviction, even as everyone’s covered in fake blood and bad decisions.
It’s horror that knows it’s playing dress-up—but still wants to scare you enough to check behind your TV afterward.
Why It Works: A Love Letter to Horror Geeks
Beyond the Gates isn’t trying to reinvent the genre—it’s too busy celebrating it. It’s the cinematic equivalent of finding an old horror tape in your parents’ attic and realizing it still works.
It’s got heart (literally—someone cuts one out), humor, and just enough sincerity to make the absurd feel touching.
Jackson Stewart and co-writer Stephen Scarlata clearly love the VHS era, and they understand what made it magical: it wasn’t perfect, but it felt alive. You can feel that passion pulsing through every flicker of static and every blood-slicked scream.
Final Verdict: Press Play and Pray
In a world full of sleek, digital horror films that mistake gloom for depth, Beyond the Gates stands out like a neon relic from another time. It’s heartfelt, handmade horror—equal parts spooky, silly, and surprisingly emotional.
It’s not flawless. The pacing lags in spots, and some performances are cheesier than a gas station nacho. But that’s the point. Beyond the Gates doesn’t want to be perfect—it wants to be fun. And it succeeds spectacularly.
So grab your popcorn, dust off your VCR, and get ready to risk your soul for some good old-fashioned analog terror.
Grade: A-
Recommended for: Horror nostalgics, VHS collectors, Barbara Crampton worshippers, and anyone who’s ever yelled “Don’t press play!”—and then immediately pressed play anyway.
