Watched this recently for the first time. IMO it had great promise but was almost entirely undone by the ending. In fact I’m not even sure it qualified as an ending, it just sort of stopped, a real shame. Still agree with your points about the moral ambiguity of most of the characters, and was certainly nice seeing the European locations, very atmospheric in places

Does anyone know what glasses Balkan is wearing. I really want a pair. Persol?

The Chick, who was Lilith (turned into black dog, liked riding Dragons, liked being on top), was aiming for Corso, all along. Everything was planned by Lilith.

My theory: (If I get it wrong, sorry) I think The Ceniza Brothers old, and the young movers are one and the same. The business with the ninth gate book is done, so they are leaving.

During his research, Corso studies a book about the Nine Gates that includes pictures of the engravings. I would assume that the pictures would have come from Fargas' copy, as he was the "nonbeliever", but I find it odd that neither Liana nor Kessler ever realized that the engravings in reference materials were not identical to the ones in their copy. It made me wonder if Balkan actually knew about it all along, and Corso's "quest" was just a pretext for Balkan to follow him and take the engravings.

Balkan didn't -- couldn't -- know that the final engraving was a forgery. The Ceniza Bros. forged that final engraving, and yet the Nameless Green-Eyed Girl KNEW about their forgery . . . because she's Lucifer Herself and they did what they did because they were in service to Her. She had long sought someone whom she could love, and after putting Corso through his paces -- she probably having got the ball rolling by convincing Telfer to sell Balkan the copy he'd bought for his wife from the Ceniza Bros. -- she CHOSE Corso, having him be the diabolical equivalent of the Virgin Mary, the mortal through whom she would bring the Antichrist into the world. After she'd gotten Corso to impregnate her, she left him alone at that gas station . . . but with the message to check out the Ceniza Bros. shop, where he just HAPPENS to be at the right place at the right time to see that original page from THE NINE GATES, the unaltered final engraving, when it fell to the floor. Corso, returning to the castle where Balkan had burned to death, has the Gate opened for him . . . the Light drawing him inside -- this being the diabolical equivalent of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, his reward for having fulfilled the will of the very womanly Devil. Why did she choose Corso, rather than Balkan who -- had he known that the Ceniza Bros. had the final engraving all along -- would surely have willingly put himself in service to her? Or the wheelchair-bound Baroness Kessler, who claims to have seen a MALE Lucifer years before? Or the harmless Fargas, sheltered with his diminishing book collection? Why choose CORSO over any of them? Did 'she' -- perhaps magically transformed into a male guise -- actually appear to Kessler years before? Or was that a delusion Kessler had been clinging to, her presumptions making the Devil out to be a MALE figure? Maybe the fact that Kessler had lost a limb had made her 'unworthy' -- like how physically handicapped people were forbidden from being in the presence of YHWH or the 'sacred' congregation back in Post-Exodus times. Balkan seems to have his own preconceptions about the Devil -- he, too, seeming to assume (wrongly) that the Devil is a MALE figure. He knows so much about the Devil . . . and yet, when he's giving his lecture, he can't see that the Devil HERSELF is attending it! It would never occur to Balkan that the Devil just MIGHT be Female instead. A powerful man like Balkan is blind to the possibility that the One he worships could ever be anything other than a powerful MALE figure. Fargas doesn't seem to be a worshiper of the Devil. Instead, he worships his BOOKS, the rarity of his copy of THE NINE GATES making it worth holding onto, never to part with it. He'll sell all his furniture first. Fargas loves his books, not the Devil -- so She has no use for him. There's the one scene in the hotel room, where Corso gets an ice-pack for the Girl to place behind her neck; she had taken an accidental elbow to her face during the struggle against Liana Telfer's henchman at the riverfront stairwell. She had intervened on Corso's behalf, and Corso, in a gentle moment, tells her, "You were really great down there at the river. I haven't thanked you for that." They share a silent moment, with him looking into her green eyes . . . and she uses the fingers of her RIGHT HAND to wipe blood from her embouchure onto his FOREHEAD and nose: 3 downward streaks of her Blood on his forehead -- Mark of the Beast? -- then ONE blood-streak down his nose. A metaphor, it seems, for the 3 books all containing ONE truth (i.e. the 'LCF' engravings). In other words, in that moment of tenderness, where he expressed appreciation for her 'divine intervention', this very feminine Devil chose Corso to be the mortal man through whom She would bring forth the Antichrist -- in time, if not right then. If Balkan had not thought to get Corso involved as a middle-man investigator to compare his newly-purchased copy of the Book with the Fargas and Kessler editions, Her plan to breed the Antichrist might never have come to fruition. But, of course, it HAD to happen, because the 9 engravings hinted at the journey Corso would find himself on . . . with She being the one who made sure that, for example, Bernie's corpse would end up being hoisted upside-down in the Hanged Man pose, to match one of the engravings. Maybe it was Chance that Balkan got Corso involved. Maybe she 'inspired' Balkan, somehow, into choosing Corso to be his book-detective. However it happened that Corso became a player in the 'game', She used him to her advantage, and Corso proved -- to Her satisfaction -- to be worthy of the diabolical honor to father Her long-foretold counterpart to Heaven's Christ.

Not a devil enthusiast, but I always kind of liked the girl. She was good looking and sort of cool.

Just read the book.

My favorite thing about this movie is that the devil prefers petty evil over grandiose displays. Corsoe is a selfish, scumbag, a devious business man, but with very little ambition. Balkan is a giant egoist who wants to rule over others. In the end, which one "wins" and which one dies in flames?

This is great!

Oh Yeahs! New Ninth Gate Video!

Very well-articulated voiceover. I really appreciate the effort you put into illustrating your analysis with effective language. Looking forward to more.

Actors tend to keep items from the filming. If I ever meet Johnny I’ll ask if he kept the engravings,

Even the release date of this movie was a deliberate easter egg. March 6th 1987...3/6

Love this movie, but the ending let's me down every time, I really want to see what happened to Corso after he walked into the light.

Question to ponder… who should have Dean aligned with instead?

This has been one of my favorite movies for ~20yrs. Has more layers than an onion.

Beautiful analysis 👍

love that actress, she can charm the devil himself.

Awesome movie, loved the blonde in it....

Love it when CineG puts out videos. Makes my day.

The Ninth Gate is one of the best films I’ve ever watched .

March 7th 1999 - January 1st 2001 = 666 days.

I thought the same thing when I first saw the movie as a kid. The reason why he should have said something is because it would explain what happened to Danny, ruling him out as a suspect. He just really didn't want to want to leave.

She literally kicks the crap out everyone, including Corso, throughout the whole movie. At 3:02.

"Even hell has its heroes." Yes, and the Ceniz Brothers were two of them.

2:41 Epstein and Maxwell behind Bill and Alice (also 2:46 Maxwell transforms in the next shot)

I just noticed that at least twice, Corso fell asleep when the girl was close by. Also that Devil's Tower was actually a Cathar castle and the Cathars were Gnostics and entwined with freemasonry and Sufism. Don't ask me how I know this, it would take too long.

It was a very trippy movie

Johnny and Harry had different gaits Who was the victim in the opening scene? [That was the woman who had gotten him pics of Johnny Favorite, who delivered those pics to Harry in a bar.] Spider died before Johnny arrived in Louisiana. You can see Spider and Evangeline at the Voodoo ritual seated apart from the living. Also people from the Harlem Church attended the Louisiana Voodoo ritual. The ‘giving of the nose shield’ was flagrant.

Brilliant ❤

The theme of abuse is also not "directly" depicted in A Clockwork Orange, that is completely meaningless distinction to make when talking Kubrick. We see the parole officer act creepy and touch his junk, we see the Church minister acting weird with Alex, the film is full of rerefences to it that are really not subtle at all. The reality is that after making Lolita kubrick felt horribly restricted by censors and from that film on he became a master at "getting shit past the radar" in terms of subtextual imagery. Hence in Dr Strangelove you have the famous opening with the bombers "fucking" when theyre just refuelling, or the planes appearing to be taking off from General Rippers crotch. Kubrick even confirmed this theme in a rare response letter to a critic from the time and said he was the only one to have noticed it. Taking that in mind with the obvious importace of floor patterns in The Shining look at the floor pattern in Room 237. Look at the creepy shot of Jacks reflection in the "fatherly love" scene where the jeans are hanging below to create an image of a "flasher" exposing themselves.

The fact is that basically all of Kubricks films have references to you know what and breaking childrens psyche, from Lolita to Eyes Wide Shut. Itd be more weird if it WASNT a theme in the Shining.

10:32 Do you see the Jack-O'-Lantern face between Bill and Alice? It is Halloween.

I wish I knew if the Girl and the Harlot of Babylon were one and the same. Her lack of a definitive identity frustrates me. Clearly, she has supernatural abilities and is bent towards the Dark Side of the World. But she actually saves Corso in heroic fashion on occasion, so she’s not necessarily evil like Balkan is. So I’m not sure what to make of her.

After Danny sees the twins they tell him "play with us forever and ever and ever..." In the next scene Jack wants Danny to sit next to him, and he tells Danny "oh I love this hotel, and I want to stay here forever and ever and ever." Jack has already seen these ghosts too (including Lloyd the barkeeper) and while going insane he has started to like that and considers even the creepy things as part of his beloved hotel, like some good 3D horror movie. In the book 237 was declared as the only location in the hotel that is not just like a picture in a book but can actually do harm. Jack notices that quickly after touching that zombie woman that it is a physical manifestation who can hit or strangle him, that´s why he runs out of this room really scared. But just like Lloyd and the other ghosts he refuses to tell Wendy about because all these ghosts are nice to him and give him alcohol and honour his work and absolute appreciate him in this place. Also if he tells Wendy she would insist to call the police and leave the hotel immediately while Jack feels absolute fine and comfy here, the best job ever absolutely doing NOTHING for almost a year eating as much as he wants living in absolute peace and quiet up there in that hotel and getting paid a lot (in the book Jack is described as being in need of money urgently) and Wendys hysterical reactions would destroy his new dream life. That´s why he keeps his mouth shut about everything because he has noticed that Wendy is so dumb and dull she can notice none of these supernatural and fascinating things and echoes of the past happening in this hotel, so it´s best to keep silent about everything and let everything go on and continue. Especially Lloyd and the good drinks he can have at the bar for free .... ;D

Alt title: 'Dr Bill Has a Weird Dream - Almost Getz AIDS, im HIV Positive', lol.

Apparently, you have no idea what a 'twist' is. It is not something in a novel that is done differently in an adaptation. Every novel is different than its adaptation. A screenplay for a movie is about 12,000 words. A novel is typically 7-10 times longer than that. Of course they will not be the same. No movie 'shoots the book'. A twist is simply something unexpected. There may be clues, or there may not be clues. Partial information which has further info revealed later is also not a twist. All that is is a mystery.

Great work. Go on...

They were obviously Wornegians

I never understood why the envelope says William Harford when the characters name is Bill

Yeah, it most likely didn’t end well for corso. He most likely made a Faustian deal in exchange for his soul.

It was me, I admit it. I was the lady in black.

One of the best underrated movies and my personal favorite Depp movie

Family values are turned on their heads in this movie, right from the very beginning. I believe that Telfer sold his wife's copy of The Nine Gates to Balkan and then committed suicide in an elaborate murder plot against his wife. I believe he understood that Liana would chase down the book and go up against Balkan, who was clearly psychotic and had been for a long time. Telfer must have known that Liana would fight Balkan at some point and that he would kill her without much trouble. His suicide took him out of the picture so that Liana would have no one to rely on except her own devices, one of which was her body guard. Telfer's suicide was an act of abandonment of his wife, whom he obviously hated for being a satanist and spending his money on her own selfish desires. There's was a marriage made in Hell.

Lucifer/Satan is the ruler of the earth. God has placed Satan in that position. Satan is unafraid of ANY church or religion. He uses them all. It is up to the us, the individual, to choose God over Satan.

I personally didn’t think the movie was that good,

I always thought that the first two Ceniza brothers were Angels and then the two at the end were “devils” because they led Corso to finding the “real” engraving page.

Best video I've watched on the topic so far. Thank you!

Always great movie, DiNero and Roark were great.