The Gates Trailer Unleashed: Mason Gooding and James Van Der Beek Face a Night of Paranoia

Mason Gooding and friends find themselves trapped inside a sinister gated community in The Gates.

Lionsgate has unveiled the official trailer and teaser poster for The Gates, the latest thriller from writer-director John Burr, arriving exclusively in theaters March 13, 2026. If you thought a simple shortcut home was harmless, this one proves otherwise.

Burr’s second feature following his supernatural debut Muse, The Gates pivots into tightly wound paranoia and psychological tension. The film follows three college students—Derek (Mason Gooding), Kevin (Algee Smith), and Tyon (Keith Powers)—whose late-night road trip takes a wrong turn through a remote, seemingly pristine gated community. What begins as an ill-advised shortcut quickly spirals into something far more sinister when they witness a murder and find themselves locked inside the walls with no way out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rooCFaczeXQ

As the night unfolds, the trio becomes the primary suspects. Blamed, hunted, and pushed to their limits, the cracks in their friendship widen under pressure. Differing belief systems and instincts clash as survival becomes the only goal. Meanwhile, the real architect of the chaos emerges: James Van Der Beek in a performance that looks equal parts charismatic and chilling. Playing the manipulative patriarch who holds the entire community under his influence, Van Der Beek appears to lean fully into controlled menace.

The trailer teases a blend of social tension and siege thriller energy, with the gated community itself becoming a character—sterile, controlled, and suffocating. There’s a clear undercurrent about power structures, groupthink, and what happens when outsiders stumble into a closed system built on loyalty and fear. Burr seems intent on exploring how quickly trust can fracture when survival instincts override friendship.

Produced by Nancy Leopardi, Ross Kohn, and Gary Glushon, The Gates is presented by Lionsgate as an Indy Entertainment & Core 4 Films production in association with Rebellium Films. With a young cast that has steadily built genre credibility and a veteran presence like Van Der Beek stepping into villain territory, the film positions itself as a mid-March thriller designed to keep audiences on edge.

If the trailer is any indication, The Gates isn’t just about being trapped inside a community—it’s about what happens when the walls were never meant to keep danger out, but to keep it contained within.

The Gates opens in theaters March 13, 2026.