Devil’s Gate (2017), A Tired and Dull Alien Abduction Movie

The best alien abduction movies are those which take a detour from the usual cliches. Rather than simply having cryptids shooting down rays of light and doing vaguely invasive experimentations on humans before sending them back to Earth, a few films take a different route. They look at the complex circumstances of human-alien relations, as well as the potential consequences of contact with foreign space invaders. Unfortunately, Clay Staub’s Devil’s Gate (2017) is not one of the exceptions.

If you’ve watched the Devil’s Gate trailer, then you already get the idea. Naturally, there are revelations and visual surprises that you won’t get to see without watching the whole film, but then you have to ask yourself some tough questions. Most importantly, is it really worth my time? After watching Devil’s Gate in its entirety, I still find myself asking the same question.

Unless a film specifically sets out to ask big questions, it shouldn’t give you a sense of existential dread. Devil’s Gate is a cut-and-dry supernatural horror film — nothing more and nothing less. Yet, after watching it, I felt as though I had wasted a part of my life that I could never get back. I don’t mean to imply that the film is horrible, unwatchable, or offensive in any way, shape, or form. It is simply dull, exploring nothing of substance and just working with all of the existing filmmaking practices that film buffs know by heart.

Before getting into the meat of the story, it must be said that “Devil’s Gate” is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, the film takes place in Devil’s Gate, Wyoming, and it does reference a kind of “portal” and the Biblical connotations of the film’s most religious characters. However, you might think (as I did) that a film called “Devil’s Gate” would literally be about a gateway to hell. Instead, it misleads viewers right from the start.

In any case, the story follows semi-disgraced FBI agent Daria Francis (Amanda Schull), who asks to be reassigned to smaller cases after inadvertently causing the suicide of a young girl. Consequently, she leaves the city for the town of Devil’s Gate to investigate the disappearance of a woman and her son. She designates the highly religious and reclusive husband, Jackson Pritchard (Milo Ventimiglia), as the prime suspect. 

However, local authorities show a great deal of reticence in investigating Jackson. Instead, the sheriff and his deputy, Colt (Shawn Ashmore), prefer to assume that Jackson’s wife, Maria (Bridget Regan), simply ran away. Nonetheless, Officer Daria insists on visiting Jackson’s home, accompanied by Colt, to learn more about what happened. After discovering that Maria’s car is still on the property, Daria realizes that there are strange things happening on the Pritchard property.

It may seem like a spoiler to say that Devil’s Gate revolves around alien abduction. However, it really does not ruin any mind-blowing twists. There is a conflict between science (or science fiction) and religion throughout the film. Acts of extreme faith try to convince you that Jackson’s zealotry led him to torture his family. But as the story progresses, you come to think that there are demons afoot. Soon after, those “demons” turn out to be cryptid aliens who have a special relationship with the Pritchard family.

Again, I typically would not be so cavalier about revealing a film’s story, but there is so little substance in Devil’s Gate that it really does not matter. The creature effects will help keep you from falling asleep, but otherwise, the story does nothing to capture your attention. It borrows some elements from M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs (2002), while adding gore and taking away any memorable stylistic choices.

Thus, Devil’s Gate does the absolute minimum, checking all the necessary boxes, but taking no risks in the process. Milo Ventimiglia feels miscast as the creepy patriarch. His characterization is never convincing. Meanwhile, Amanda Schull and Shawn Ashmore, arguably the heroes of the film, could not be blander if they tried. From the half-baked script to the weak performances, Devil’s Gate commits the ultimate offense by making no impression whatsoever. If you actually go through with watching the film, you will likely forget all about it the next day.

More than anything else, Devil’s Gate works as a cautionary tale against trying to mix too many genres at once. It functions as a police procedural, a by-the-books alien abduction movie, and a straightforward horror film. With better direction, these combinations might actually work, but in this case, they just feel like disjointed parts of an uninteresting whole.

Looking at the larger themes of the film, one can only glean so much from the narrative. You have the destructive power of religious zealotry and the demons of one’s past haunting the present. Additionally, the benefits of letting sleeping dogs lie come to mind. But, as someone who really wants to analyze films and read between the lines, I found very little in Devil’s Gate. It is a surface-level fluff piece with almost nothing of value to offer.

Even if you identify as a diehard alien abduction fanatic, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend Devil’s Gate. It may keep you entertained at certain points, but the slow police investigation takes away most of its appeal as purely escapist cinema. In all likelihood, you will just find yourself zoning out as characters explain their backgrounds and intentions through tedious exposition. You just have to wait for the interesting bits to crop up every once in a while. Unfortunately, most of these moments don’t occur until the second half of the film, so good luck trudging through the mediocrity in between.

In short, I really don’t recommend Devil’s Gate (2017) unless you are completely starved for something new to watch. It has precious few scares and even fewer moments of quality entertainment. With all of the content available on streaming platforms these days, you can almost certainly find something better.

Devil’s Gate Movie Rating: ★½ out of 5

If you’d still like to watch Devil’s Gate (2017), it is currently available to stream, rent, or purchase via Amazon Prime. For more film reviews like this one, be sure to check out the Philosophy in Film homepage!