Saw it at a theatre in Phoenix around 1988 give or take a year.
A family moves into a house (yea I know…that could be any horror movie!)
I don’t think the house is haunted, but there are monsters or hell is actually under the house OR they are outside somewhere near the front yard or underground outside very near the house.
I think there might have been a tunnel or cave outside very close to the house.
I think I remember it was one of the kids who first ended up having contact with the devil or monster
I thought the name was Hell House but that’s not it. It’s not “Zombie Death House” (1988.)
I also thought it might have been called “Scared to Death” but that came out in 1980 and everything about it is different than what I remember.
I’ve looked at lists of all horror movies I could find between those years. It’s very possible it might have been a horror movie…it might have even been renamed for a theatrical release during that time.
I think that might be it! It hits all the things I talked about above such as the tunnel under the house, monsters, it’s a kid who discovers it. Also, I remember the title having very few words like The Gate, and it’s from 1987 and low and behold it’s from Canada (according to IMDB.) The ratio is odd for a 35mm film (1.33:1) but it is what it is.
The only thing that’s not there (I watched a bit of it on YouTube) is there is no family that moves into the house from the beginning. Everything else seems to fit from what I remember I could be confusing that family moving into the house with a different movie. I also remember something about a tree…which is there and kind of starts it all.
At this point I’m going to say that’s probably it. Thanks, I’ve been trying to figure that out for a few years!
I always liked it. A decent little 80s flick with neat stop-motion creatures and a good storyline. Much better than the Ghoulies films. The sequel wasn’t as good. The director Tibor Takacs went on to make a bunch of cheap monster movies for SyFy, and then Christmas movies for Hallmark.
It sounds like a movie I once saw called Mortuary (Mortuary (2005) - IMDb) but it doesn’t quite fit your time line since it came out in 2005 but check out the preview in IMDB.
Hi, I just checked it out and it’s not anything like “The Gate” (1987.) The styles, looks, actors and even how the story goes in the trailer…all very different.
In itself however it looks like a cool scary movie!
Hi there! Thanks for revisiting this. I checked out the trailer for “The Cellar” and “The Boogens” “The Cellar” comes closest and it may be the one I’m thinking about.
I thought I had responded about if I thought it was “The Gate” (1987) or not, but around the time these posts were going on, I started thinking that’s probably the one.
I even watched a bit of the movie and it’s the closest match. It’s got to be the way I’m remembering it a bit differently but there are a couple scenes in that movie that look familiar.
Seems to me I remember a scene about a treehouse outside too.
What would really sell it to me is if I can watch the very start of the movie when the family arrives to the house. I think they are there for the first time and that’s when one of the kids notices something outside that doesn’t seem right. This, all about the time when the family is about to enter the house (again I think for the first time.)
Thanks for the link! This is probably it. The beginning of the movie is pretty much like I said, but I remember it slightly differently. Also, I thought the parents were in the movie throughout, but they’re not; however they are mentioned a few times. I do remember the gate being outside as shown, but of course near the end it ends up opening under the house. Pretty cool stuff.
I’ve got to conclude this is it. Two words for the title and the year match up!