The Ninth Gate

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

I don't know why I decided to watch this again, I just saw it on one of my dvd shelves and thought, what they hey. I like my occult films and I like my treasure hunts even more. With Roman Polanski at the helm you know it's gonna be classy too. Well... As classy as a thriller about summoning the devil can be.

Frank Langella is one creepy old man. Seems to be a role he's been milking a lot lately. He's so damn good at it though. Lena Olin is creepy too. Johnny Depp is... the protagonist.

I love the mystery, finding all the clues in old books and the whole spooky old-school devil worship stuff. That's a lot of fun. And in a lesser directors hands it would all be pretty b-movie cheesy but it's all played straight and the slow burn eases you into the more fantastic parts of the film later on. Polanski know how to move his camera. There's some very Hitchcock-like sequences where the camera pans from one object or person to another and the audience can put everything together in their head. It's simple and economic and tells us exactly what we need to know. Very smart.

The other thing I really love is Wojciech Kilar's score. I only really know his work from this and Dracula. It's damn creepy.

Good to revisit this. It's not one of Polanski's more popular films but I remembered enjoying it when I was younger and It holds up well.