Hellgate (1989 film)


Hellgate is a 1989 American–South African horror film directed by William A. Levey and written by Michael S. O'Rourke. The film stars Ron Palillo, Abigail Wolcott and Carel Trichardt. It follows two young couples who become embroiled in the mystery of a desolate ghost town, Hellgate, where a young woman was kidnapped and murdered by a biker gang in 1959. It was released in the United States directly-to-video in August 1990 through Vidmark Entertainment.

Plot

A motorcycle gang kidnaps a young woman, Josie, from a diner and brutally kills her. Many years later, the girl's father finds a magic crystal that can bring the life back to dead objects.

Cast

Hellgate was distributed on home video by New World in the United Kingdom in December 1989.

Reception

Andrew Smith of Popcorn Pictures gave the film an abysmal score of 1/10, writing, "Hellgate isn’t just bad, it’s on the same ‘utterly terrible’ plane of existence as the likes of Troll and Raging Sharks. It's not a film you can even watch if you're curious about how awful it is. Just forget it ever existed." Michael Weldon in The Psychotronic Video Guide gave the film a negative review, noting: "Ron Palillo, who was nearly 40 at the time, stars in this awful, irritating teen horror movie."
Graeme Clark from The Spinning Image awarded the film 1/10 stars, calling it "utter garbage" and criticized the film's script, phony special effects, and acting.