A VCR board game threatens to steal your soul in a retro-style faux commercial that serves as an atmospheric promo video for Jackson Stewart's Beyond the Gates, co-starring Barbara Crampton, and we also have a look at Doug Kovacs' tarot card artwork for the film.
Synopsis: "A retro-cool blast from the day-glo 1980s past, Beyond the Gates zaps viewers back to a time when VHS ruled, video stores were meccas for horror fans, and shocks came with a healthy dose of schlock. In the wake of their father’s mysterious disappearance, two estranged brothers—responsible Gordon (Graham Skipper of ALMOST HUMAN) and reckless John (Chase Williamson of JOHN DIES AT THE END)—reunite to sift through the contents of his stubbornly anachronistic VHS rental store. Among the inventory, they discover an interactive VCR board game, which their father viewed just before he vanished. Intrigued, the boys pop in the tape, press play, and soon discover that, far from an ordinary game, the video is a portal to a nightmarish alternate reality overseen by a sinister hostess (cult horror icon Barbara Crampton) and that in order to save their father’s soul, they must play by her rules. Bursting with eye-popping practical effects, an unsettling synth score, and wicked black humor, Beyond the Gates puts a fresh spin on old-school terror."
Directed by Jackson Stewart, Beyond the Gates stars Graham Skipper, Chase Williamson, Brea Grant, Matt Mercer, Jesse Merlin, Justin Welborn, Sara Malakul Lane, Henry LeBlanc, and Barbara Crampton. IFC Midnight will release Beyond the Gates in select theaters and on VOD and digital platforms beginning December 9th.
In case you missed it, check out stills from the film, as well as Heather's Los Angeles Film Festival review of Beyond the Gates and her interview with co-writer/director Jackson Stewart and co-star Barbara Crampton.
Tarot card artwork by Doug Kovacs:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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