Video: James Van Der Beek Stars in Trailer for Final Film THE GATES

You don't want to cross this neighborhood pastor in the first trailer for The Gates, starring the late James Van Der Beek in one of his final roles. The horror flick, from writer/director John Burr, will be released in theaters on March 13 from Lionsgate.

The Gates follows three college students, Derek, Kevin, and Tyon (Mason Gooding, Algee Smith, and Keith Powers), whose road trip takes a dark turn as the three young men take an ill-advised shortcut through a remote gated community.

After witnessing a murder, the trio becomes trapped and finds themselves blamed, hunted, and fractured by their own differing belief systems throughout the course of the night.

Meanwhile, the perpetrator, played by Van Der Beek, emerges as the cunning patriarch who holds the entire community under his influence. "You have to understand: inside these gates, I am a god," he says in the trailer.

The trailer debuts following the recent passing of the Dawson's Creek star, who died at 48 this month due to colorectal cancer. This marks his final film performance, though he will also appear posthumously in season one of Elle, the Legally Blonde prequel series debuting on Prime Video this summer.

The cast of The Gates also includes Brad Leland, Kylr Coffman, Elle Evans, Jack Snyder, and Sofia Hublitz, among others. This is the second feature from Burr, who previously helmed the supernatural thriller Muse. 

Photo Credit: Sherwood Jones/Lionsgate