The Ninth Gate

Johnny Depp stars as an unscrupulous rare book expert, hired by a cadaverous demonology collector (Frank Langella) to find and authenticate two ancient Satanic volumes he needs for his evil plan to conjure up the devil. Roman Polanski directs this film that starts out as a chilling labyrinth of deception and danger before disintegrating into the high-brow equivalent of a cheap, straight-to-video supernatural thriller. Thirty minutes longer than it needed to be, The Ninth Gate is a total washout by the time it reaches Langella's inevitable and laughably hackneyed, fire-and-brimstone Satan-paging ritual ("All is in readiness! I feel the power surge through me! Muh-ha-ha-ha-ha! I'm invincible!") at--of course--the foreboding ruins of a remote castle. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)