Escape White Suburbia in "The Gates"

The Gates, John Burr’s new thriller film, is a disturbingly realistic portrayal of three Black twenty-somethings – Derek (Mason Gooding), Kevin (Algee Smith), and Tyon (Keith Powers), as they accidentally take a wrong turn into a gated community that’s more like a modern-day sundown town. The three friends witness a variety of crimes in their new surroundings, including an attempted homicide and an attempted rape. As they attempt to alert the authorities and do the right thing, they are thwarted at every turn by the worst horror stories of American conservatism – racist white suburbanites, reckless gun violence, corrupt police, religious mania, and a megalomaniacal pastor. 

The film’s main character, Derek, represents the kind of naivety some viewers of the film may go into it with. With aspirations to study law, he wears a hoodie at night without concern and brushes it off when the group gets pulled over by the police on their way to a party. Unfortunately though, the three friends get stuck in a massive traffic jam and decide to take a shortcut through a gated community. A mysterious woman (Elle Evans) lets them in the gate, and they try to make their way through their new environment. However, they realize they are stuck inside unless they can get the gate code to get out. As Derek, Kevin, and Tyon knock on doors trying to get the gate code, they happen upon the house of the community’s nefarious leader, Pastor Jacob (James Van Der Beek), as he fights with the mysterious woman and knocks her unconscious.

In their quest to escape the neighborhood and contact the authorities, the group meets a motley cast of characters that are a little too realistic just to belong in a thriller movie. They meet an old drunk, Christopher (Brad Leland), who holds them at gunpoint while demanding to know if they are men of God. When the friends happen across a house party, Kevin and Tyon meet Roxy (Sofia Hublitz), a young woman being harassed by the party hosts in exchange for an opportunity to use the recording studio in the house. As Tyon saves Roxy from being raped by the party hosts, Kevin is surrounded by a gang of rich white frat boys and pressured into rapping on their homemade track in exchange for letting him use their cell phone. Throughout it all, the group is pursued by Pastor Jacob and his lackey, the sheriff, as he seeks to get the group arrested and discredit the witnesses to his crime.

As the three friends finally make their escape, a tense standoff ensues. Pastor Jacob has attempted to frame the group by putting the mysterious woman’s body in the trunk of their car – but when it turns out the woman is still alive and can corroborate what Derek, Kevin and Tyon have witnessed, Jacob opens fire, leading to a white knuckle escape on the part of the three friends.

The Gates is an unrelentingly tense thriller with a cast of creepy characters that all add up to a disturbingly realistic scenario for three young Black men lost in a white suburb at night. At every turn, Derek, Kevin, and Tyon are reminded of the old adage that no good deed goes unpunished as the stakes get higher and higher until they finally make their getaway. If you’re looking for a gripping thriller with charming friendships that reminds you of the news, The Gates is the film for you.