Director: Harley Wallen
Writer: Harley Wallen
Stars: Laurene Landon, Calhoun Koenig, Yan Birch
Run Time: 1 Hour, 50 Minutes
Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6318954/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
Synopsis
A group of friends get together for a party, and they have a special guest, Vesna the psychic woman. She’s a medium with a funky Cajun accent. She takes the guests in one at a time and does her thing for them. Richie explains that it’s all a scam; they read your body language and tell you what you want to hear. The others literally dare him to take a turn.
Finally, the whole group goes in for a seance to call up dead relatives. Someone’s grandma says hello, and then Richie’s father speaks through her. There’s a flash, and then they all freak out; the party is over. Richie’s father was crazy; not the funny kind of crazy. Credits Roll.
Cassidy tells her friend the story. Richie’s dad tried to kill his mom, but Richie killed him instead. Since then, his mother has been institutionalized.
The next day, Zesna is meditating and some stuff starts flying around the room, which isn’t supposed to happen. She calls her friend, Zeb, to come over and check it out. Weird stuff starts happening to Richie at home. Zesna tells Zeb what happened at the party; that thing was not supposed to be able to push through, but she thinks it did just that.
Richie decides to visit his mom, and Cassidy warns him that last time he visited her, he was messed up for days. He explains that he thinks his father has come back, but she’s not much help.
Zeb comes over to the house and does a reading. He thinks it’s Agramon, one of the very worst demons. He tells them they will all fight back, they can do it if they stand strong. The more afraid you get, the stronger it gets…
Commentary
I was pleasantly surprised with this one. We’ve reviewed two other Harley Wallen films here so far, Into a Dark Mind/Abstruse and Eternal Blue, both of which had some problems. Agramon’s Gate came out earlier than either of those films, and it is the best of the bunch. Many of the actors here went on to star in the two newer films, but they all seem much more suited to their roles here.
That acting is really very good, the story develops in an interesting way, and the pacing is really good. The two “Cajun” characters have truly atrocious accents, which were pretty much unnecessary and distracting. Other than the accents, the story moves along with a good pace, and was otherwise very well made. Check out this film for a low-budget, but still completely entertaining, indie horror experience!