History Film / TheNinthGate

* AdaptationNameChange: Lucas Corso of the book becomes Dean Corso. Liana Taillefer becomes Liana Telfer. Baroness Ungern becomes Baroness Kessler. Varo Borja becomes Boris Balkan. (There is a character called Boris Balkan in the book, but it's a different character.) The Girl uses the pseudonym [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Irene Adler]] in the book, but is nameless in the film.

* AdaptationNameChange: Lucas Corso of the book becomes Dean Corso. Liana Taillefer becomes Liana Telfer.

* CreepyChild: The little girl staring at Corso while he's leaving from the airport qualifies as this.

* EverybodySmokes: And they do it everywhere, as there is not a "No Smoking" sign in sight.

* FreezeFrameBonus: Possibly doubles as a blooper. [[spoiler: While the Girl tells Corso that the reason the ritual failed was because one of the engravings he used was a forgery, specifically the 9th one which the Cenizas had hidden in their shop, pausing the film during the ritual will show that actually there we two fakes laid out on the table. Specifically the 7th engraving which has Torchia's black checkerboard rather than Lucifer's white. It pretty much shows Balkan as a blind follower of the devil rather than someone capable of understanding the truth of the matter since he pretty much relies on Corso to do all the investigative work for him and even armed with all that knowledge, he bungles the ritual by failing to notice such an obvious fake sitting right in front of him. That or Polanski just couldn't be bothered to use the correct engravings for shot that amounts to less than 15 seconds.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: Possibly doubles as a blooper. [[spoiler: While the movie makes it clear that the reason for Balkan's failure was he did not have the true 9th engraving, which the Cenezias had stashed in their shop, pausing the movie during the ritual when they are all laid out on the table shows that the 7th engraving was also a fake, having Torchia's black checkerboard instead of Luficer's white. Either Polanski just couldn't be bothered to use the correct engraving or its his way of telling us that Balkan was blind, both literally and figuratively, to the truth that was in front of him.]]

* Freeze-FrameBonus: Doubles as a blooper. While the movie makes it clear that the reason for Balkan's failure was he did not have the true 9th engraving, which the Cenezias had stashed in their shop, pausing the movie during the ritual shows that the 7th engraving was also a fake, having Torchia's black checkerboard instead of Luficer's white. Either Polanski just couldn't be bothered to use the correct engraving or its his way of telling us that Balkan was blind, both literally and metaphorically, to the truth that was in front of him.

His investigation causes Corso to cross paths with a number of other collectors, who like Balkan seem to believe the book has genuine power -- and will do anything to learn its secrets. Initially disbelieving of the supernatural, the things Corso sees begin to change his mind, and he discovers a secret of ''The Nine Gates'' which could be the key to solving its riddles and achieving ultimate power.

Corso (Depp), an expert on rare books, is hired by a wealthy collector named Boris Balkan (Langella) to authenticate his copy of ''The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows''. Written in [[NumberOfTheBeast 1666]] by Aristide Torchia, the book is supposedly an adaptation of another book, the ''Delomelanicon'', written by Lucifer himself, and contains instructions on how to summon the Devil and gain supernatural power. After Torchia was burned at the stake, only three copies of ''The Nines Gates'' survived to the modern day, but Balkan believes that only one is authentic and the other two are forgeries. He asks Corso to compare his copy to the other two and find out which is the real book.

''The Ninth Gate'' is a 1999 mystery thriller film [[TheFilmOfTheBook freely adapted]] from the Spanish novel ''Literature/TheClubDumas'' by Creator/ArturoPerezReverte, directed by Creator/RomanPolanski and starring Creator/JohnnyDepp, Creator/FrankLangella, Creator/LenaOlin, Creator/JamesRusso, and Creator/EmmanuelleSeigner.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Corso, who's described in the novel as rather unattractive, is played by Creator/JohnnyDepp.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Corso, in the book described as rather unattractive, is played by Johnny Depp.