The Ninth Gate (1999)

Sometimes cults don’t want to make babies or deal with kids, sometimes they just want to meet the man himself. “The Ninth Gate” is all about that, somewhat, in that the story is about a rare book dealer’s adventure in trying to authenticate a book that was supposedly written by the Devil’s apprentice and details the way in which to summon the Devil. This film is Roman Polanski’s second supernatural themed movie and is unfairly compared to his critically acclaimed work “Rosemary’s Baby”. This is indeed a different film and should be treated as such; I myself thought it took elements from both “Rosemary’s Baby” and another of his classics, “Chinatown”, to form an entertaining horror/film noir mix. Granted, “The Ninth Gate” is not as great as “Angel Heart” in that manner but it is still a fun movie. A bit slow at times, a little uneven, this movie still managed to keep me engaged. The ending does lack a little luster, wherein I was hoping for some sort of revelation but at the same time realizing that I would probably consider anything otherworldly as coming across as cheesy.

Simple non-spoiler synopsis

Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) is hired by Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) to authenticate his copy of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows and then acquire the real copy by any means if his is not the real version. There are only three copies of the book and it is rumored to be an adaption of an older book that was written by the Devil himself. Corso’s adventure takes him from New York to parts of Europe, those in possession of the book are killed off violently, Corso is stalked by a menacing figure, is followed and aiding by a beautiful and mysterious woman, witnesses a satanic ritual performed by the sect known as the Silver Serpent, and gets beat up/knocked unconscious from time to time.