The Gate (1987)

A couple of kids accidently open a portal to Hell (a "gate" if you will) in one of their backyards after workers remove an old tree. I really wanted to like this more then I did, the acting is just not that great (featuring a young Stephen Dorf), though the special effects are memorable, a lot of stop motion and forced perspective. Set in an unspecified suburbia, but filmed in Canada, a couple of things let that slip. It's a kids film I suppose, but at times a little intense. I remember seeing my mom watch part of it while I was in high school, at that time for me 'a gate to hell' was just too much for a subject of a film centered on kids. Uneven this is really a kind of Poltergeist Jr. Not my thing, but unusual enough to be worth a watch.**