Reviews: The Ninth Gate (1999) Movie Review
Subgenres: Supernatural, Dangerous Exploration, Drama
Where does The Ninth Gate (1999) stand among horror films? Our review examines the scares, pacing, and what makes it unique in the genre.
Director Roman Polanski brings us this mystery-thriller film in The Ninth Gate (1999). The Ninth Gate had a rather large budget with an estimated $38 million budget. The film, however, did terrible at the box office with $18 million. This movie’s runtime is about 133 minutes that may feel a little dragged on for some viewers. I enjoyed the film knowing that there was going to be an ending where "everything would make sense."
The Ninth Gate starts off with Dean Corso played by Johnny Depp in the search for a famous occult book with deep relations to the devil. On the journey to find the clues and track down the book, Corso finds himself on a crazy journey where everyone he encounters will do anything to secure the book for themselves. Corso meets "The Girl" played by Emmanuelle Seigner who helps him but at the same time is the center of a lot of questions.
The Ninth Gate was a terrific watch for me, but even I wanted to stop the movie at times because I was getting bored. I attempted to look at the film again recently, but I gave into the feeling of boredom and took it off. Do not get me wrong, the film is great, and you should be able to watch again to see what clues you missed the first time, but a third watch may be pushing it.
The performances from the movie stars were worth it, and there is a time way before the ending of this film that you pretty much figure out what is going to happen, but I found myself wanting to see if I was right about the ending. The movie makes you fell like you are on the journey which is a great touch, especially with the great sceneries and sets. Push through the boring elements because you should enjoy the journey of The Ninth Gate.
Similar films like The Ninth Gate can be found in demon movies sub-genre(s), check them out for more movies like The Ninth Gate.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- The Ninth Gate Rating Scores
- Our Score: 7/10
- Overall Score: 5.79/10
- IMDB: 6.7/10
- MetaCritic: 4.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 4.3/10
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