iiii ii THE GATE CI987) iln portat lf you say "Candyman" five times while looking into a mirror, it calls into existence the vengeful son of a murdered slave in this cult favorite based on a Clive Barker story.</p><p> The probhm: Umm, don't say "Candyman" five times while looking in a mirror and you're good to go.</p><p> One online jokester insists if you say it 10 times while looking in a mirror, "Sesame Street's" Count von Count appears and congratulates you on your counting skills.</p><p> THEGUARDTAN (1990) Tfte portat Director William Friedkin came a long way down from "The Exorcist" when he directed this story of a pagan nanny who sacrifices babies to the hungry tree lurking menacingly in the backyard.</p><p> Ite prcblem: Stating the movie is "from the director of 'The Exorcist"' in ads doesn't make a movie scary.</p><p> And worshiping a tree is just silly.flte portaft A young Stephen Dorff plays Glen, a kid who finds out that removing a rotting tree stump reveals a mysterious hole ... to Hell! Tlrc prcbhm: lt's hard to be scared of demons threatening to take over the world when they couldn't even get past the stump of an old tree until humans removed it. .*** AITACKOFTHE KILLER TOMATOES!(1978) The portal We don't know why, we don't know how but tomatoes have become imbued with evil and are outto destroy humanity - especially anyone who asks you to "pass the ketchup." The probhm: What problem? This prescient film clearly saw to the present, when people would be seized with panic over killer tomatoes, and restaurants and delis around the countryg n movies, evil can reach our world by many $ doorways - through ancient amulets, mighty $ spells and, as in "The Exorcist," even an N innocent girl.</p><p> But sometimes, the spawn of hell get a little lazy and take any old pathway into our reality.</p><p> In the new horror film "Mirrors," opening Friday, those reflective objects aren't just seven years of bad luck when you crack them.</p><p> As Keifer Sutherland realizes, the mirrors are a portal for supernatural forces. "What if the mirrors can actually make us do things that we don't want to do?" Sutherland breathlessly asks.</p><p> And what if the baddies take some decidedly lame shortcuts to unleashing evil? Here are some movies where horror slides in on a portal that's banal, odd or just plain goofy.</p><p> THE SENTINEL(1977) Tfte portat The gateway to Hell is a really nice furnished apartment in Brooklyn Heights with an incredibly low monthly rent - the new home of a lapsed Catholic/hot model (Cristina Raines) and her lawyer-boyfriend (Chris Sarandon).</p><p> The problenr To most New Yorkers, a great aparfnent at a steal of a price is a vision of heaven, not Hell. lf ifs rent-controlled. we ll move in even if the place does come with demons.</p><p> POLTERGEIST (1982) Ihe portaft "They're heeeeere!" was the spooky catch phrase of the summerwhen Heather O'Rourke started communicating with ghosts embedded in the fuzzy signal of a TV set. flrc prcblem: Thanks to cable and 24-hour programming, there is no end-of-the-day static on TV anymore - which means those ancient lndian spirits will have to get their revenge some other way.</p><p> CANDYMAN0992) refused to stock them.</p><p> Michael Gilt
