![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/n/ninthgate.jpg)
The Ninth Gate
Roman Polanski flirts with Satan once again, but utterly fails to recapture the dark magic of his devillish Hollywood debut, Rosemary's Baby. Johnny Depp stars as a rare book hunter who journeys into the blackness of his soul searching for a book allegedly penned by the Evil Prince himself. Depp is watchable, but his character never develops, and the script — written by Polanski and two others from novel source material — disregards simple concepts like motivation. Set to an incongruously whimsical score by Wojciech Kilar. Not bad enough to equal the ludicrous fun of End of Days, just dull. This is a handsome disc, in both 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and pan and scan, and 5.1 Dolby Digital. Includes a commentary by Polanski, a making-of featurette, stills, and a "gallery of Satanic Drawings," which are really just the fake pictures made for this movie. Keep case.
—Gregory P. Dorr
