The Gateway (2021) Review

Not wasting any time after 40uR writer/director/star Charles Chudabala and co-star Jennifer Nangle are back with The Gateway, a nine-minute, two-character piece that’s different from both that and his other short Nightshade.

Jess (Jennifer Nangle, That Night, Zombi VIII: Urban Decay) and Cruz (Charles Chudabala, Paranormal Attraction, The Crossing) are best friends. They’re hanging out and Jess is doing a tarot reading when the lights go out. Then things get strange.

Although The Gateway is described as an “experimental horror film” don’t let that scare you off. The story is still reasonably linear and easy to follow. It doesn’t explicitly say what’s going on, or why, but there are enough clues that you should be able to put the pieces together easily enough. And once you do put them together you get a story that’s more tragic than terrifying, something that’s true of many good genre stories.

While I can’t say much more about the plot, I want to mention the film’s technical aspects. Richard J. Aguirre, who primarily works as an editor, manages to deliver some nicely done shots that, in combination with Hector Franco Arias’s sound design, help make The Gateway that much more effective.

The Gateway is currently available on Vimeo. There is brief nudity, unfortunately not from Ms. Nangle, so I probably should give the film an NSFW warning. You can check the Facebook page of the film’s production company for more details.