Regional horror film were cropping up all over the country in the ’80s when filmmaker saw there was a rabid audience wanting to get scared in the dark or in their dimly lit family rooms. That’s why a cabal of indie filmmakers joined up in Ft. Worth, Texas to cast a cinematic spell called Through The Fire. Although they must have made the wrong sacrifice since the film appears to have gone straight to video with a dedication to Italian horror icon Lucio Fulci and the new title of The Gates of Hell Part II: Dead Awakening. This film is not Italian or a sequel of The Gates of Hell. But you can’t blame an American video distributor for trying to buff up the rental numbers. It’s what an Italian video distributor would do since originally Gates of Hell was released as City of the Living Dead wanting to cash in on George Romero’s films.
Sandra Curtis (Miss Texas 1984, Tamera Hext) is bothered by her sister’s mysterious disappearance. She believes the cops aren’t doing enough. She sobers up long enough to hire Nick Berkley (Tom Campitelli) to investigate. He’s a bit more focused as he tracks down people that the sister might have known. He finds a medallion with a foreign language inscription. A teacher at the university interprets the words to discover it has something to do with the demon Moloch. While picking through the sister’s library, the teacher believes the sister was into conjuring spirits. Turns out she’s right and there’s still others in the area that have conjured something that they can’t find. Is this what made the sister disappear and will it be going after everyone else?
Through The Fire has plenty of shows to go along with the mystery of the missing sister. There’s a shock of one character finding her cat in the freezer. One person finds out things can reach out of the garbage disposal. There’s rather effective bullet extraction from a character’s butt. Plus there’s menacing demon arriving. There quite a few topless scenes to earn that R Rating. It’s also got fine ’80s fashions to go along with the synth score. Nick dresses up to look like a background cop on Miami Vice. He could have been the agent who got shot when the deal went sour. Campitelli was in Dark Angel that was shot in Houston.
Back in the ’80s, if you rented the VHS thinking it’s the sequel to The Gates of Hell, you wouldn’t be disappointed. Through the Fire has enough weirdness and demonic action to feel like an ’80s Italian horror flick without the awkward dubbed voices.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The transfer came from the movie’s 35mm internegative. This looks much shaper than when the VHS came out. The audio is DTS-HD MA mono. You’ll hear plenty of gagging as people get attacked by the creature. The movie is subtitled.
Lighting The Spark (19:09) is an interview with writer/director Gary Marcum and writer/associate producer Brad Potter. Turns out the two of them have known each other since 5th grade. They collaborated on writing a novel after high school. They were inspired to write a horror film after the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween. Marcum isn’t a fan of scary movies because they give him nightmares. They found the basis for the story in the Old Testament. They talk about making a film on a shoestring budget in Texas.
A Labor of Love (16:37) talks with special effects makeup effect artist Gregor Punchatz. He had worked on Nightmare on Elm Street 2 and Robocop before this gig. He was brought on the film by the cinematographer Roger Pistole. He suggested they needed to make a demon creature. Gregor was living at his parents house as he constructed the creature and other effects.
Commentary Track with Gary Marcum goes into his memories of bring the Satanic action to the screen.
The Gates of Hell Part II: Dead Awakening (87:32) is an alternate feature-length version from a video source. The aspect ratio is 1.33:1 so this original VHS cut. There’s a commentary track with Gary Marcum, Brad Potter and Jay Helton with moderator Zack Carlson. They point out the differences in the film cuts.
Behind the Scenes Special Effects Video Footage (4:22) is the tests done to see how things look on camera and in motion.
Vinegar Syndrome presents Through The Fire. Directed by Gary Marcum. Screenplay by Gary Marcum and Brad Potter. Starring Tamara Hext, Tom Campitelli, Randy Strickland, Randy Sternman, Billie Carroll, Dan Shackelford, John Davies, Wendy Wade, Terry Wegner and Martin Smith. Rated: Unrated. Running Time: 88 minutes. Release Date: August 31, 2021.
