History YMMV / TheNinthGate

** One theory states that Corso ''is'' Lucifer himself, and the film is about him [[AngelUnaware reawakening and rediscovering his true nature]]. Several clues pointing to this are scattered throughout the film, such as Corso having a very Luciferian appearance, such as wearing a goatee (Goat = the beast), the ending reveal that Corso is represented as a 7-headed dragon in the final illustration with the Girl riding the beast after the Girl has sex with him the previous night. When Balkan tries and (seemingly) fails to summon the Devil, Corso shows up. Going with this interpretation, the ending with the FadeToWhite signifies Corso ascending to Heaven.

** One theory states that Corso ''is'' Lucifer himself, and the film is about him [[AngelUnaware reawakening and rediscovering his true nature]].
** The Girl: who ''is'' she, and what is her reason for helping Corso? [[spoiler:The most common interpretation is that she is Lucifer/the Devil/Satan, but it's also a popular theory that she's instead an agent of the Devil such as the Whore of Babylon, given that the final engraving shows her riding atop a dragon. A ''seven-headed'' dragon, i.e. Satan in his apocalyptic final form. Other theories are that she's Lilith, the mother of demons, she's a succubus who is corrupting Corso to take his soul and condemn him to Hell, or she's a witch who successfully performed the ritual of the Nine Gates in the past and has chosen Corso to join her in sharing power and immortality. It's also speculated that she's actually a ''benevolent'' force -- under the theory that by the end of the film Corso has escaped the Nine Gates, the Girl would be his guardian who protected him during in his investigation and guided him to redemption. This theory is bolstered by how Corso refers to her as a "guardian angel", and in the novel she actually claims to be a fallen angel. It's also speculated that, regardless of identity, she was initially looking to Balkan as the one to discover the secret of the Nine Gates, but after meeting Corso she turned her attention to him instead.]]

** One theory states that Corso ''is'' Lucifer himself, and the film is about him reawakening and rediscovering his true nature.
** The Girl: who ''is'' she, and what is her reason for helping Corso? [[spoiler:The most common interpretation is that she is Lucifer/the Devil/Satan, but it's also a popular theory that she's the Whore of Babylon, given that the final engraving shows her riding atop a dragon. Other theories are that she's Lilith, the mother of demons, she's a succubus who is corrupting Corso to take his soul and condemn him to Hell, or she's a witch who successfully performed the ritual of the Nine Gates in the past and has chosen Corso to join her in sharing power and immortality. It's also speculated that she's actually a ''benevolent'' force -- under the theory that by the end of the film Corso has escaped the Nine Gates, the Girl would be his guardian who protected him during in his investigation and guided him to redemption. This theory is bolstered by how Corso refers to her as a "guardian angel", and in the novel she actually claims to be a fallen angel. It's also speculated that, regardless of identity, she was initially looking to Balkan as the one to discover the secret of the Nine Gates, but after meeting Corso she turned her attention to him instead.]]

** When Corso finds [[spoiler:the Baroness]] strangled to death, it should be a frightening scene, especially since it's obvious before he reaches the body what he's going to find... then he turns the chair around and viewers are treated to the victim's face with their tongue lolling to the side and their eyes rolled back, an over-the-top expression that wouldn't look out of place in a cartoon.
* NightmareFuel: Being a religious horror film, the movie isn't without its scary moments.
** The film's opening scene showing Mr. Telfer hanging himself from a chandelier. The lack of music and the sounds of him struggling to breathe doesn't help either.
** Liana telling Corso that she found out about her late husband's suicide through the sounds of the maid screaming.
** Everyone trying to kill Corso to get the book.
** Corso walking into the empty bookstore in the dark and discovering his best friend's bloody and decomposing dead body hanging upside down from a rope -- resembling the Hanged Man tarot.
** Corso being abducted and attacked by Liana's henchmen only to be saved by The Girl.
** The Girl floating down the railing to get to Corso's aid.
** The Girl smearing her blood upon Corso's face in the shape of the trident -- and her eyes glowing as she looks at him.
** The phone ringing after Corso wipes the blood off his face provides a JumpScare.
** The satanic ritual taking place in the building before they are interrupted.
** Liana being killed by Balken through a combination of strangulation and her pentagram necklace impaling her through her throat/windpipe.
** Corso being trapped in the floorboards as he's forced to witness Balken perform his satanic ritual with the pages and then ritual going horribly wrong due to one of the page's being a forgery.
** Balken's screams of pain and anguish as he burns to death before Corso escapes and performs a MercyKill on him.
** The ScareChord as The Girl reunites with Corso and removes his cigarette.
** The close-up of The Girl's glowing green eyes as she moves closer to Corso.
** The entire sex scene between Corso and The Girl taking place outside the burning castle. Starts off erotic but very quickly escalates into a sense of something being horribly wrong. As she writhes atop him, her green eyes glow and The Girl's face becomes twisted and distorted before finally morphing disturbingly into her true image -- an old man, The Devil. All topped with a sinister smile and a creepy orchestra playing.
** The real final page for the ritual showing The Girl next to a three-headed Beast where the castle burned.
** The film's ending showing Corso finding the real final page and him going to construct the ritual. The last shot shows Corso walking into a building and the doorway opening up flashing a bright blinding light as he disappears down a pathway and the screen flashing to white. It's left ambiguous as to whether or not Corso has gone to Hell.

** The Girl: who ''is'' she, and what is her reason for helping Corso? [[spoiler:The most common interpretation is that she is Lucifer/the Devil/Satan, but it's also a popular theory that she's the Whore of Babylon, given that the final engraving shows her riding atop a dragon. Other theories are that she's Lilith, the mother of demons, she's a succubus who is corrupting Corso to take his soul and condemn him to Hell, or she's a witch who successfully performed the ritual of the Nine Gates in the past and has chosen Corso to join her in sharing power and immortality. It's also speculated that she's actually a ''benevolent'' force -- under the theory that by the end of the film Corso has escaped the Nine Gates, the Girl would be his guardian who protected him during in his investigation and guided him to redemption, a theory bolstered by how Corso refers to her as a "guardian angel". It's also speculated that, regardless of identity, she was initially looking to Balkan as the one to discover the secret of the Nine Gates, but after meeting Corso she turned her attention to him instead.]]

** [[spoiler:The Ceniza brothers removed the final engraving from their copy of ''The Nine Gates'' and replaced it with a forgery. Given that they admit there's no profit to be made in forging a book like this, what are their motivations then? The logical explanation would be that they believed in the power of the books and removed the engraving to ensure no one could complete the ritual without it, but then they also snark to Corso "even Hell has its heroes", so which side do they see themselves on? Then there's the fact that by the end of the film they've vanished and their shop is being cleared out. With all the other murders its possible they were killed too, but then why wouldn't the film just say so?]]

** One theory states that Corso ''is'' himself, and the film is about him reawakening and rediscovering his true nature.

** [[spoiler:The Ceniza brothers removed the final engraving from their copy of ''The Nine Gates'' and replaced it with a forgery. Given that they admit there's no profit to be made in forging a book like this, what are their motivations then? The logical explanation would be that they believed in the power of the books and removed the engraving to ensure no one could complete the ritual without it, but then they also snark to Corso "even Hell has its heroes", so which side do they see themselves on?]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:The Girl: who ''is'' she? The most common interpretation is that she is Lucifer/the Devil/Satan, but it's also a popular theory that she's the Whore of Babylon, given that the final engraving shows her riding atop a dragon, or that she's a succubus who is corrupting Corso to take his soul and condemn him to Hell. It's also speculated that she's actually a ''benevolent'' force -- under the theory that by the end of the film Corso has escaped the Nine Gates, the Girl would be his guardian who protected him during in his investigation and guided him to redemption, a theory bolstered by how Corso refers to her as a "guardian angel". It's also speculated that, regardless of identity, she was initially looking to Balkan as the one to discover the secret of the Nine Gates, but after meeting Corso she turned her attention to him instead.]]

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Naturally, the fact that the religious supernatural elements are not directly explained allows a lot of room for speculation on what exactly they mean. It's also speculated that since apparently only two of the nine engravings are recreated in scenes Corso encounters, the other seven ''are'' recreated in other places in the film, just in a less overt manner. And then there's the GainaxEnding which has all sorts of interpretations.
* EvilIsSexy: Liana Telfer seduces Corso shortly after her husband's death in order to get Corso's copy of the book. [[spoiler: Also, the Girl, who regardless of identity is almost certainly on the side of Satanic forces.]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:The Girl: who ''is'' she? The most common interpretation is that she is Lucifer/the Devil/Satan, but it's also a popular theory that she's the Whore of Babylon, given that the final engraving shows her riding atop a dragon, or that she's a succubus who is corrupting Corso to take his soul and condemn him to Hell. It's also speculated that she's actually a ''benevolent'' force -- under the theory that by the end of the film Corso has escaped the Nine Gates, the Girl would be his guardian who protected him during in his investigation and guided him to redemption. It's also speculated that, regardless of identity, she was initially looking to Balkan as the one to discover the secret of the Nine Gates, but after meeting Corso she turned her attention to him instead.]]

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Naturally, the fact that the religious supernatural elements are not directly explained allows a lot of room for speculation on what exactly they mean. And then there's the GainaxEnding which has all sorts of interpretations.
* EvilIsSexy: Liana Telfer seduces Corso shortly after her husband's death in order to get Corso's copy of the book. [[spoiler: Also, the Girl, who regardless of identity is clearly on the side of Satanic forces.]]

* {{Narm}}: Liana Telfer's hissing and clawing at Corso is rather ridiculous and just looks silly instead of threatening.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:The Girl: who ''is'' she? The most common interpretation is that she is Lucifer/the Devil/Satan, but it's also a popular theory that she's the Whore of Babylon, given that the final engraving shows her riding atop a dragon, or that she's a succubus who is corrupting Corso to take his soul and condemn him to Hell. It's also speculated that she's actually a ''benevolent'' force who is protecting Corso as he investigates the Nine Gates.]]

* EvilIsSexy: Liana Telfer seduces Corso shortly after her husband's death in order to get Corso's copy of the book. [[spoiler: Also, the Girl.]]
* {{Familiar}}: The Girl may be Corso's familiar. Her animal form is the large black dog who appears several times in the movie. She appears shortly after the concept of a familiar is explained to Corso.

* Corso walking into the empty bookstore in the dark and discovering his best friend's bloody and decomposing dead body hanging upside down from a rope -- resembling the Hanged Man tarot.

** Balken's screams of pain and anguish as he burns to death before Corso escapes and performs a MercyKill on him.

* {{Narm}}: Liana Telfer's hissing and clawing at Corso is rather ridiculous and just looks silly instead of threatening.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: In a rather serious movie, there's only one, but it's a good one: [[spoiler: Corso finds the Devil reading ''How To Win Friends And Influence People''.]]
** HarsherInHindsight when you realize that the producer & director's wife was murdered by a guy who thought he was the devil and also infamously read that same book.
* A second CrowningMomentOfFunny comes in after Boris Balkan reads the riot act to the Satan worshippers, who stand around stunned...cue one perfectly executed BOO! from Frank Langella to clear the room in terror.

* EvilIsSexy: Liana Telfer seduces Corso shortly after her husband's death in order to get Corso's copy of the book. [[spoiler: Also, The Girl.]]

* {{Narm}}: Liana Telfer's hissing and clawing at Corso is rather ridiculous and just looks silly instead of threatening.

* Familiar: The Girl may be Corso's familiar. Her animal form is the large black dog who appears several times in the movie. She appears shortly after the concept of a familiar is explained to Corso.
* Narm: Liana Telfer's hissing and clawing at Corso is rather ridiculous and just looks silly instead of threatening.

* RootingForTheEmpire: In-story, Liana is a big fan of Milady de Winter and hates the Musketeers.

* AdaptationDecay: All over the place, but the ending really takes the cake. Not only it differs from the book's ending, it takes the whole point of it and throws it out of the window.

* TheUntwist: [[spoiler:Liana, "Rochefort" and Balkan were actually trying to get "The Anjou Wine" from Corso all along and knew nothing of ''The Nine Gates.'' Boris Balkin alone was responsible for the murders of Fargas and Ungern.]]