The Gates (2026)

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.