Hellgate (2011)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

best movie i've ever seen.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This is above average for an independent production filmed on location in Thailand. It is poorly billed as "horror" and even given a poor choice for a title. The better genre for this is Adventure Drama Fantasy, but not horror. The movie stars actor Cary Elwes and supporting actor William Hurt. Elwes portraits Jeff Mathews a businessman returning to visit his father-in-law in Bangkok when a fatal car accident takes the lives of his wife and son, leaving him in a coma for weeks expected not to survive.Upon his recovery, Jeff discovers through personal experience and Eastern metaphysics, that his soul is trapped between realms. He must cross a barrier between worlds guarded by demons to save himself.The movie is nothing to rave about, but better than watching stale remakes and countless sequels others offer.

The American Jeff Mathews (Cary Elwes) returns to Bangkok with his beloved wife Kyle Matthews (Chanin Goldsmith) and son Som Mathews (Paula Taylor) to visit Kyle's parents. Jeff is a businessman that met Kyle in a business trip and married her. Jeff stops the car in a red light and a pickup crashes his car. Five weeks later, Jeff awakes from the coma and learns that Kyle and Som died in the accident. The nurse Choi Luang (Ploy Jindachote) treats Jeff carefully but instead of recovering, he has dreadful visions and nightmares with ghosts and demons..Choi takes Jeff to the aunt of her cousin Mae Noi (Viyada Umarin) and she explains that he is experiencing the World of Shadows, where people suffer their last moments over and over in the darkness. Soon Jeff learns that his connection with the World of Shadows is very strong and Mae Noi tells that they need help. They go to the house of Warren Mills (William Hurt) and Jeff learns that his soul is trapped in the World of Shadows, and he need to go there to bring his soul back and be one again. "Shadows", a.k.a. "Hellgate", is a great ghost story about tormented souls and spiritual world. I am not a believer but I enjoyed this movie a lot, which is underrated in IMDb. Jeff's visions are scary and gruesome and the plot is well-resolved. I have never had a chance to visit Thailand but the beautiful locations in this movie are breathtaking. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Sombras do Além" ("Shadows from Beyond")

The title is a little misleading since it would give the impression we have to do with a horror movie.And that is not the case. The original title Shadows makes much more sense.Shadows is more a science fiction with supernatural elements.Knowing this beforehand will save you some disappointment.Since overall Shadows is not scary.It does deal with ghosts and does have some creepy elements.But these are far from frightening.The acting by Cary Elwes and William Hurt is sufficient but it is obvious that Hurt is not giving his best.It's nice to see a USA/Thailand co production like this.I hope we will see more of this if only they would think of better plots that make much more use of the locale and the mysticism.This films is hard to recommend.It's a decent film.But that is all there is.There is nothing that really stands out that would make it worth your time.One to watch on a rainy Sunday.

IMDb's plot description makes reference to a "shadow world between life and death." This had me go in thinking we were about to be treated to a journey through an imagining of what lies beyond, disturbing dreamscapes and such. But this is not that.What this is, is a horror movie. It starts out with standard Japanese horror fare that we saw migrate to America about ten years ago, ala "The Ring" and "The Grudge", ghosts comprised of people with creepy contact lenses clawing at legs.It then turns into something less subtle and more Sam Raimi: Travel to distant lands where only the natives retain the ancient knowledge required to defeat the evil. It gets rather silly, without being charming. Raimi's sense of ironic detachment isn't there, nor is any feeling of adventure or intensity, at least one of which you'd hope would be there.The acting is all well and good, with William Hurt and Cary Elwes performing as expected. Other aspects of the production are also nicely done, but the second-time director doesn't seem sure what he wants to evoke in the audience. I can't call it "bad" per se, but I still can't see this being worth anyone's time.