A mysterious hole unleashes a terrifying army of pint-sized demons in director Alex Winter's 3D remake of "The Gate," a film inspired by movies from his childhood.

Having helmed such films "Freaked" and "Fever," Winters is perhaps best known for playing Bill in "Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure." His latest directing effort was "Ben 10: Alien Swarm," which recently received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects.

Like Tibor Takács' original 1987 creature feature, "The Gate" will follow three kids who are forced -- without the help of adults -- to overcome a supernatural threat that could overwhelm the Earth.

"Its gonna have edge on it the way that 'Poltergeist' did and even some of the scarier stuff in 'The Goonies' or whatever," Winter said in an interview with Screen/Read. "The whole notion of this film will be that all of this could really happen. This could be your house, this could be your family, this could be happening to you right now.

"What I really wanna embrace with 'The Gate' is going back to my own childhood. Going back to my own feelings of like when I was left home alone at a certain age. And what things scared me and how I felt about what might happen to me."

To help materialize those scares Winters is looking to harness the power of 3D. He sees a movie like "The Gate" as an ideal use for the format.

"I think were considered the first 3D movie thats being hatched out of Germany," he said. "And theres a lot of enthusiasm for us about this.

"Weve been doing a lot of 3D effects and a lot of visual effects over the last two years to get up to this point. Design work, concept design work, 3D testings, stuff like that : But from the genre, from the tone, from the style, from the audience that we`re going after, our movie is perfectly aimed for 3D, and that takes the brakes out of us because it fits the material."

Winters points to two aspects of the film that are ripe for a 3D treatment.

"Theres the big grand stuff, like minions coming out, breaking frames and all that kind of stuff, just like in the storyboards," he explained. "And then theres this thing that I havent seen a movie in 3D yet, that just uses sort of the environment in a suspenseful way."

As for the tiny minions of "The Gate," Winters says that they will be a combination of armature puppetry and CG scale models. A lot of physical effects are planned for the film too.

"The minions : in the original 'Gate' are largely designed in order to be made into suits that can be worn by human beings," he said. "But today I dont need to put a guy in a suit anymore, so it doesnt need to be so anthropomorphic. I can come at the minions in a completely different way, which is very liberating. : Nevertheless, it will all be done with very much the spirit of the original in mind."

With CG playing such a significant role in many of today's horror films, Winters is hoping to seamlessly incorporate it into "The Gate" without compromising the film's impact. He feels genre films are often seriously hurt by the technology's pitfalls.

"Its not scary and theres a reason for that," Winters said. "I mean, the thing is, when someone scares you, whether in a movie or in real life, your mind will subconsciously always be looking for a way out. And what happens with these CG horror movies is they give your mind a way out. Youre not scared by whats happening on the screen cause your subconscious mind is going: its an animation. Its not real, theyre not really there, thats not really happening to them. Your brain just shots off, and you have no visceral reactions.

"You have to use CG sparingly and it has to look very photo-real, and it has to be organic. And when it isnt, audiences dont care."

See more of Winter's interview at Screen/Read.

"The Gate" is currently in pre-production; no release date has been set.