The Gathering (2003)

The Worst Film Ever

One of my all time favorites.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

***SPOILERS*** Far out movie involving some dozen person who were present at Jesus' Crucifixion who like someone rushing to an accident were there to get entertained not to feel any sorrow for the man suffering on the cross. As were told these heartless individuals were dammed to roam the earth forever to observe tragedies, like floods earthquakes wars and assassination, until the end of time. The latest tragedy that the dozen were slated to observe was the little English town of Ashley Wake's car mechanic known as "Crazy Fred" Argyle,Peter MacNamara,flip his lid and go on a killing spree gunning down everyone in town who abused him. That's when "Crazy Fred" was a little boy at the town's Catholic Church's orphanage where he was repeatedly gang raped by a number of townspeople that included the priest in charge!It's American tourist Cassie Grant, Christina Ricci, who by losing her memory in her getting hit by a car while hitch hiking to town who in fact saves the day by stopping "Crazy Fred", who after he murdered some half dozen people, from doing far more damage or killing then he already did.***SPOILER*** It in fact was Cassie who was one of the dozen or so people who were part of the gathering at Jesus' Crucifixion who were there to entertain themselves who in the end stopped all this carnage from happening at the cost of her own life!Along the way Cassie got friendly with the Kirkman's whom Marion Kirkman, Kerry Fox, hit her with her car that caused Cassie to lose her memory. It's in Cassie losing her memory that in the end made her a better person by eliminating the guilt complex she had in what she was involved in some 2,000 years ago in her insensitivity towards Jesus' Crucifixion.***SPOILERS*** Interesting up to a point but halfway through the film gets so confusing that those who are there to observe the impending tragedy, of "Crazy Fred" going nuts, actually start participating in it like the clean cut and charming local homeboy Dan Blakely,Ioan Gruffudd. It's Dan who goes out of his way and does some murdering on his own. As for Cassie she in the end gets rewarded for her good deed in saving young Michael Krikman's, Harry Forrester, life whom "Crazy Fred" who had it in for him in feeling that Michael was the reincarnation of the Catholic Priest who was responsible in molesting him when he was 12 years old!

I found the storyline of this film interesting and different, but still I was disappointed after seeing the film. There were several things that weren't working. Foremost for me was the acting. Christina Ricci and Ioan Gruffud were both a huge disappointment. There was no depth to their characters and acting, so I as a viewer couldn't care less what happened to them in the end. Also the pacing of the film was not really working. There is too much running around and the relationship between Cassie and Michael is emphasized too much, at the cost of for example the relationship between Cassie and Dan. I had a strong feeling that the film was cut too short. Another fifteen minutes could have made a huge difference in ways of adding to the plot and the depth of the characters. One thing that really annoyed me, was the way Cassie every five minutes was calling out for Michael, and the little boy in question wheezing and moaning. Children with asthma have been seen on film so many times I can't even count them, so it annoys that they had to put one in this film, too. And one thing I can't understand is, why Michael first was mute and then all of the sudden started to talk again, and nobody paid any attention to this! So random!I have only seen the DVD-version, so I don't know if the extra 10 minutes made the film any better, but I have to say I'm very, very glad they cut the sex scene off. I hate the "mandatory sex scenes" that appear in almost every film, whether they fit in the story or not.All in all, the Gathering could have been an excellent movie, but as it is, it's shamefully lacking in many ways. Without Ricci, despite of her not so great acting, this film would have been a total flop. Now it is an OK film that you can watch when you're bored, but which doesn't leave any lasting impressions.

I only got this one because it came free when I bought "The Mist" on DVD. I am sure glad I never bought it. I thought about it at one time, but I have never been much of a Christina Ricci fan and she is the star of this one. Unfortunately, her scenes drag the movie down, not that she is bad, but for me the most interesting scenes involved the discovery of the church. The story has a girl hit by a step mum with her kid in the car. The woman grateful the girl is okay lets her stay with her and her husband in their rather big house. The husband is a researcher of some sorts looking at the remains of the church mentioned above. There is something different about said church. There are also mysterious people showing up in town that seemingly know Ricci's character. A rather good death at the beginning of the film and a few premonition scenes like one would find in the movie "The Sixth Sense" scattered throughout the movie. Then at the end a couple of more deaths and the startling revelation which I had figured out a bit before the end. Did not really startle me. So not much horror, not much tension, a mystery that really was not to hard to figure out and the pacing was a bit slow with needless plot points. However, someone else may well think this movie is great, just not my taste.

This was kind of an interesting movie, not much about it was original.Essentially, a church is found that dates back to the first century, and was made by Joseph of Aramatea (I have this image of the Castle Arrgghhhh) that had a bas-relief of the witnesses to the Crucifixion, who are cursed forever to go around and witness all the other disasters in history. Okay, you got that. Nothing original here, we saw this before in the Seventh Sign with Demi Moore (Witness to the Crucifixion doomed to immortality) and a buried Church (Those two attempts at Exorcist prequels.) One of these watchers (Ricci) is hit by a car by a distracted mother (again, why is this so popular in British-made horror? Are your roads really that bad?) and forgets that she is a watcher, but she still has visions of impending disaster.Not knowing she is one of these condemned, she attempts to prevent the impending disaster of a disgruntled village outcast preparing a terrorist attack against his neighbors. She does, at personal cost, and is forgiven and allowed to go to heaven.Now, exactly why hasn't this occurred to these people in the previous 2000 years? Why is the Big Guy such a jerk that he'd condemn these people to such a punishment? This is not a bad little film. Nothing original, but enjoyable to watch.