The opening scene is reminiscent of a backwoods horror scenario, gruesome and filthy, leaving behind a skulk of corpses and an upset stomach. Yet, even at those highly familiar places, director Clay Staub makes a sharp turn.
Staub weakens the graphic violence in achieving the bloodshed and shifts the action forward to set a tone of mystery and potential suspense. This seems to be Staub’s first feature film, but he has before worked as a second unit director for Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead and 300, alongside the more recent version of The Thing.
While there and understanding the filming setting, Staub reveals the core characters. FBI Special Agent Daria Francis played by Amanda Schull steps into the fictional place of Devil’s Gate, North Dakota, which is a speck in the unmoved terrain of the state. She is following a death, and like many in the audience, has more questions than answers; a setup that is somewhat like Wind River.
Predictably, the local sheriff, so brilliantly played by Jonathan Frakes, is not best pleased with the FBI coming into his territory. He gets his deputy, named Colt Salter played by Shawn Ashmore, to take Special Agent Francis to the scene of the crime. Colt is a kind and considerate young officer who has no problem helping out Agent Francis.
When they get to the crime scene, which is a farm owned by Jackson Pritchard, they notice that there is something not quite right. Jackson is utterly uncooperative and quite rude and he has boarded his farmhouse up to the hilt. He has been suspected ever since his wife went missing some time ago and has been feeding the imagination of Francis.
It is for the director Staub to establish all this early information, which tends to be in the first act of the movie. He’s matched with the desertedness and barren nature of the landscape, along with an appropriately scary score from Keefus Ciancia and the ghostly camera work of Miroslaw Baszak, makes it clear that a lot more is happening than Colt and Agent Francis imagine.
Jackson becomes agitated barely masking his feelings and starts to speak about other things bringing up an unwanted situation that he wants to avoid. Because of the limited budget of the film, it’s easy to understand how Devil’s Gate tries to take turns which from there can be incredibly hard to believe.
Everyone does the best they can, I am sure, but sometimes the artistic ambition exceeds the realistic reach. Despite this, the film remains optimistic with some of its narrative ideas and goals, and trust me, by that point, I was prepared to overlook the plot holes.
Amanda Schull plays a strong authoritative role yet one who contains warmth and empathy, giving her character balance. Ashmore once again delivers a laid-back but charming performance while Schull lies somewhere in the middle of heartless yet believable, which is how most people would expect her to be.
For such a simple and short film, Devil’s Gate becomes very likable which is hard to believe in the vast picture. Watch it, but do not get your hopes too high.
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