Evidently, Mike suffered a very personal loss that he has yet to fully process. Likewise, Eddie is still raw from the death of his estranged father. Mike’s mate Joe is struggling with his separation from his wife and his strained relationship with his daughter—and the fact Mike might be partly to blame. Together with Phil, who is a real tool, they try to set up a pot growing operation in a mysteriously shunned house. Of course, it hardly takes any time before they are seeing things and lashing out at each other.
Gateway is moody as heck and definitely a slow builder—almost too slow. Owens definitely appears to share a Ben Wheatley influence, because the first half hour is all about the low life thugs’ dysfunctional relationships. However, when the house starts to do its thing, it definitely gets eerily unnerving.
The house is definitely a profoundly unhealthy environment. Frankly, Owens never reveals the full extent of its secrets. The glyphs we see on its walls are only a tantalizing tease that start to look like red herrings.
Regardless, Owens definitely cranks up the atmosphere of decay and menace. Gateway is a lot like Relic and Amulet, in the way it makes a drab environment feel overwhelmingly evil. Plus, the unsettling sound design skillfully deepens the disorientation and foreboding.
Gateway is indeed stylistically ambitious, which should appeal to fans of A24’s horror output. Yet, most importantly, it still delivers the creeps. Recommended for genre fans, despite an unhurried (and sometimes obscure) start, Gateway releases this Friday (7/15) on VOD.
