Where’s
David Ritz when you need him? Jack Winter had a bad feeling about the
ghostwriting gig his agent offered him, but he took it anyway, because he is
short on money and responsibility. As he digs deeper into the occult legends of
the English countryside, he will endanger his bratty daughter Eternity. Instead
of a Green Man, it is a Horned Man who haunts the woods and the Winter family
in Martin Gooch’s The Gatehouse (trailer here), which releases today
on VOD.
Ever
since the accidental drowning death of his wife Eloise, Jack Winter has been
struggling with depression. He also has a hard time paying the bills and
getting Eternity to school on time. In a misguided effort to help, Eternity has
become obsessed with digging for buried treasure. It sounds harmless enough,
until Winter starts researching the so-called “black flowers,” for the book he
agrees to finish. Evelyn Eldritch (a Lovecraftian name if ever there was one)
was obsessed with the mythical hidden talismans that supposedly protect the
forest from human interlopers and went mad as a hatter before he could finish
the third book in his trilogy.
It
seems the Horned Man, the forest’s sinister guardian, is out to recover the
missing black flowers and he will suck the life out of any mere mortal that
gets in his way. Unfortunately, good old Jack is a bit slow on the up-take,
even with the spirit of his late wife working overtime sending him and Eternity
warnings in their dreams.
Gatehouse is not exactly
perfect, but it is still rather refreshing to watch a creaky throwback British
supernatural yarn. Frankly, the film does not have a lot of effects beyond the
hazy, out-of-focus shots of the Horned Man, but that combined with its
literate, archetypal paranormal details evoke fond memories of vintage 1970s and
1980s BBC productions.
Simeon
Willis is suitably rumpled as poor Jack Winter, but a little of Scarlett Rayner’s
obnoxious Eternity goes a long way. Fortunately, as the mysterious neighbor
Algernon Sykes, Linal Haft chews the scenery like an old school Hammer Horror
pro. Game of Thrones alumnus Hannah
Waddington also an espresso shot of attitude as Winter’s caustic literary
agent.
If
you only watch one or two horror films a year, Gatehouse probably should not be one of them, but for genre fans it
offers plenty of nostalgic enjoyment. Recommended for those appreciate its gothic
influences, The Gatehouse is now
available on VOD platforms, from Uncork’d Entertainment.
