Roman Polanski will always be associated with the devil.

It was shot in The Dakota, the exclusive Manhattan apartment building where John Lennon was shot.

Sometimes the universe comes together in a bad way.

He has never shied away from horror in his films.

That doesnt necessarily mean his films, even his horror films, are always scary.

The Ninth Gateis an adaptation ofThe Dumas Club, a book written by Spanish novelist Arturo Perez-Reverte.

A cult formed around the book that believes it contains instructions on how to raise Satan.

Polanski borrowed Barbara Jefford from the Royal Shakespeare Company to play the wheelchair bound, stump-armed Baroness Frida Kessler.

The screenplay was written by Enrique Urbiz, Roman Polanski and John Brownjohn.

The film begins with Andrew Telfer hanging himself from the chandelier in his library.

It is not an easy death.

He doesnt break his neck.

He chokes to death.

Maybe he killed himself because of the missing book the camera is so interested in.

While he is leaving, Corso is confronted by another book dealer for being an unscrupulous vulture.

The author was burned at the stake in the 1600s for writing it in collaboration with Lucifer.

Balkan believes that something is not right about his copy.

Corso asks Whats wrong, the Devil wont show up?

Corso stashes his copy at Bernies Rare Books.

Barely fazed, Corso moves past his hanging friend to retrieve the book.

As he leaves the bookstore, Corso is terrorized from above by the collapse of some scaffolding.

Corso finds FargasNine Gatesburning on a fireplace, all of the pages with the engravings have been torn out.

She has dedicated her life to writing about the devil and is currently working on his biography.

Corso explains the discrepancies and gets permission to compare the two books.

Corso tries unsuccessfully to pull Kesslers copy of the book from the flames.

Corso returns to his hotel room to find that his copy ofThe Nine Gateshas been stolen by Telfer.

The Girl tells him that one of the engravings was a forgery.

Corso goes back to Spain to the book dealers place and the real engraving falls from above.

The last engraving reveals the location of the Ninth Gate.

Corso walks through the illuminated Ninth Gate, achieving dark enlightenment.

The Ninth Gatedoesnt provide shrieks of terror; it tightens the suspense like a noose.

Polanski subtly creates an uneasy atmosphere using minimal effects.

There are similarities to the artistic geomancy of Stanley Kubrick in this movies combination of framing and music.

The street sequence where the scaffolding collapses always reminded me of another devil movie,The Omen.

He is named Lucas Corso inThe Dumas Club, which might also have the initials LCR.

A dog and a little girl both notice that there is something different about Corso.

As does the Girl.

She doesnt align herself with the evil wannabe, Balkan.

The Girl is named Irene Adler inThe Dumas Club.

At one point she gives Corso a copy of a book calledThe Devil in Love.

Who knew satanic enlightenment could be so sexy?

Hollywood, of course.

Polanski presentsThe Ninth Gateas a seduction.

Solving the riddle of the book doesnt raise Beelzebub.