The Ninth Gate [MA]

Dean Corso is a book dealer who believes in one thing: money. When a rich and fanatical book collector hires him to find and authenticate some extremely rare Satanist books, he signs on immediately. But as he delves deeper into this job, sinister things begin to happen and Corso soon realises that he's signed on for way more than he bargained for.

As you probably know by now, I absolutely adore Johnny Depp and so, when I saw this film at work, I figured that I just had to sit down and watch it. Usually thrillers and religious-themed films aren't my scene, but one has to walk the roads of unknown territory sooner or later.

Dean Corso is a New York book dealer who believes in one thing: money. In the film, Corso is approached by a very rich and fanatical collector named Balkan. Balkan owns a copy of an extremely rare book called The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, a book that is said to have been written in collaboration with the Devil. Although the book looks authentic enough, Balkan is convinced that it is a forgery and he hires Corso to go to Europe to find and authenticate the last remaining two copies. As soon as Corso sets off on this job, he learns that there is much more under the surface with these books than meets the eye. And what started out as a job soon turns into an obsession as Corso becomes enthralled in a Satanic nightmare involving murder, theft, and rituals as he discovers that the 9 engravings that make up the books can, when interpreted and spoken correctly, unlock the gates of Hell and raise the Devil Himself.

As I mentioned before, I don't usually go for thrillers, although of the few I have seen, I can understand why people find them so appealing. That rush of anticipation when you're trying to brace yourself for the shock of what the hero will find when he goes round the corner or opens the door is almost addictive. I have noticed that there a quite a few thrillers that deal with religious conspiracies and stuff. Maybe because there is so much ground that you can cover. I mean there's perspectives, so that takes care of mind manipulation and emotional changes in characters, for better or worse. Then you can dive into the supernatural and paranormal end of the pool where you tend to get the physical and visual shock. That was the case with The Ninth Gate. Many of the murders where committed in the styles of the engravings of the books, I think that's pretty cool really. It was like in Seven where the serial killer was modelling his kills on the Seven Deadly Sins. So, as far as visuals go, this movie was good.

I also believe that the music has a very strong power as to make a film scary or not. Think about it, if Psycho didn't have that jagged violin music in the shower scene, the scene would have been almost laughable. However, the music in this was a little confused, I found. There were times where it was a sinister and melancholy violin that added a sense of anticipation to the movie, but then there were other moments when it seemed to be making light of the situations. I don't know, it just didn't seem to work.

Directed by Roman Polanski and starring Johnny Depp, Frank Langella and Lena Olin, The Ninth Gate was an intriguing thriller, although by the end of the film it got a little strange and you were left with a "huh?" feeling. I don't think it will be added to the collection, but that's not to say that it's not worth watching at least once.