I'm not totally certain why I didn't like this more. There was Satanic metal, crimped hair, teenage smoking and drinking, and stop-motion special effects . . . everything I love! Outside the callous handling of the death of a family pet, the flippant use of homophobic slurs, and the weird Saved By the Bell fashion, this flick is a ton of fun. I did kinda want to punch Baby Steve Dorff in the bangs for most of the movie, but I don't think that's the reason.

I don't know. This must be great.

Already cancelled my Netflix account, so getting all the freebies I possibly can before it officially closes. This little gem with Stephen Dorff was one of the few I was eager to check out. Someone called this a "kid friendly horror movie", something I kind of find to be an oxymoron, but they were for the most part right. It's a bit darker than say, The Goonies, but not far from it. Young Stephen Dorff was a hoot to watch, and it screams 80's in some cheesy moments, but the ending is pretty batshit crazy for a movie where the hero is really a little kid. And that makes it alright in my book.

Is this childhood favorite of mine a "perfect movie?" Nope. Is it a total blast to watch on a big screen with a theatre full of friends and family, at a Halloween party, with my 8 and 6 year-old nephews sitting right next to me? You betcha.

A bit of a slow start to this one which then develops brilliantly.

If there is a lesson in this, dont leave your kids home alone as they will summon demons and bring the universe to the edge of satanic rule.

Ypu mean you guys were serious about the demon stuff?

LoLcats, what the fuck?

Dear Lord the FX work in this flick is AMAZING.

In an 80's movie about a backyard portal to hell, you have to screw up pretty hard to make a plot like that mediocre. Surprise, that's what happens in this uneven PG13 thriller starring a young Stephen Dorff. The opening is super creepy, and the 80s supernatural vibe is strong, but there's just not enough to sustain this movie to its OK climax. Needed more sustained creepiness and less goofiness to make this a memorable movie. That said, the little mini-demons are freakin' cool, and the demon boss is weird enough to be OK as an arch-villain. Still, too much drag and not enough bang.

This is the kind of film that's difficult to defend because it's really not very good. It really feels like they came up with a bunch of effects and then quickly constructed a movie around them. It's fun though, and it has a strong nostalgia factor for me since I essentially grew up watching this kind of horror film.

A bit of a slow start to this one which then develops brilliantly.

If there is a lesson in this, dont leave your kids home alone as they will summon demons and bring the universe to the edge of satanic rule.

Ypu mean you guys were serious about the demon stuff?

I dont know much about the history of this film but i can only assume it was a horror made for kids. The storyline did not make any sense, there was little or no reasoning behind a lot of what the characters did, including some of the scenes which just seemed to be thrown in there because the director had an idea. One thing i will say, there was good use of animation here, the scene where a zombie character smashes into lots of little demons was particularly good. The demons themselves could definitely give younger children nightmares. The last 20 minutes brought about a few good little bits here and there but nothing that should make you want to watch this. The end was also very weak, like the director really had no idea how he was going to end it. Im not sure where i found this but ill be putting it back there soon.

Claymation gone amok redeemed only by young Stephen Dorff's stellar performance.

Awesome stop motion effects and a really young Stephen Dorff before he became a douchebag.

Scared the crap out of me as a kid.

It's a fun 80's creeper with some cool moments featuring great forced perspective tricks and stop-motion animation.

The fact that they learn about the gate from a metal band get's this one extra points.