Beyond the Gates

Gordon and John Hardesty reunite at their missing father's video store to clean out the property and prepare it for sale. Gordon is reserved and has stayed away from their hometown, while John is a slacker who drifts with Hank. They begin sorting through decades of videos and confront the unresolved tensions their father's disappearance left behind.

That evening, Gordon, Margot, John, and Hank go to a local restaurant for dinner. Hank makes crude comments toward Margot, provoking Gordon's anger and hinting at trouble ahead. The uncomfortable outing deepens the rift between Gordon and Hank and foreshadows danger tied to the estate.

Gordon wakes up at 3:13 in their father's house after hearing a noise and seeing a shadow on the street below. Looking at the bedroom shelf, he finds a key labeled Office on a shelf. The moment hints at a mysterious link between the house, its memories, and the game they will soon uncover.

The next morning at the store, Gordon and John search the office and discover a VHS board game called Beyond the Gates, with the last tape their father watched still in the VCR. Evelyn, a woman on the tape, asks if they are willing to risk their souls to play the game. They turn off the tape, but hours have passed, suggesting the game has already begun to twist time.

That evening, John and Margot join Gordon and discuss playing the game for fun. Evelyn addresses Gordon as the blue player and asks if they have the courage to do what is necessary to save their father by locating the four keys. The revelation that the tape is actively guiding them unsettles the group but also draws them deeper into the game's challenge.

Gordon wakes at 3:13 again, finds the TV on with a static screen, and is joined by John and Margot. They decide to call their friend Derek, a police officer, to look at the tape for validation. Derek sees only static and leaves, frustrated and suspicious.

The trio visits Elric, an odd occult store owner, who explains that the game must be played to completion once started. He warns that there are no easy options and that the game will likely return. John secretly steals a dagger resembling one of the game's images.

Back home, they draw the Drifter card and are instructed to dig up the Drifter in the garden to remove a key from its diseased organs. Digging in the yard uncovers a tin with a ragdoll containing a key. At the same time, Hank harasses his ex-girlfriend in a bar, and John cuts open the doll to retrieve the key, which is bloodied; Hank is mysteriously killed by an unseen force.

Gordon flips over the other cards, revealing Derek as the Noble, Margot as the Maiden, and their father as the Father. When they place the key on the board, a gate appears in the basement, drawing them toward the next trial. Gordon realizes that Margot is the Maiden, heightening the tension and stakes of the game.

Later that day, Derek attacks with a shotgun at the house, seemingly in a daze. In the chaos, Gordon finds a small grey plastic head with a key sticking out and is forced to pull it free as Derek points the gun at him. The act causes Derek to explode, revealing the second key.

With two keys on the board, the brothers return to the basement and find Margot standing before a glowing gate, holding the third key. They enter a parallel dimension using the dagger and are attacked by ghouls of Hank and Derek in the basement. Gordon kills the two ghouls, and, following Evelyn's instructions, cuts out his father's heart to retrieve the key and save his father's soul.

The brothers rush back to their own dimension and place the fourth key on the board, which restores them to the living world. Evelyn's final words urge them to stop thinking about the dead and to think about the living. The film moves toward a resolution as Margot and Gordon leave while John stays to settle the estate.

Two cut scenes show Elric selling the game to a new customer and Evelyn staring at the audience, hinting at the ongoing cycle of the game. The ending underscores the story's message about the thin line between reality and the supernatural.