The Gathering (2002)

Amnesiac Cassie Grant has a premonition that someone or something wants the family that's helping her recover dead. She investigates the secrets of the town they live in and uncovers darkness, both human and supernatural.

Director:

Brian Gilbert

Writer:

Anthony Horowitz

Stars:

Christina Ricci, Ioan Gruffudd, Stephen Dillane

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christina Ricci	...	Cassie Grant
Ioan Gruffudd	...	Dan Blakeley
Stephen Dillane	...	Simon Kirkman
Kerry Fox	...	Marion Kirkman
Simon Russell Beale	...	Luke Fraser
Robert Hardy	...	The Bishop
Harry Forrester	...	Michael Kirkman
Jessica Mann	...	Emma Kirkman
Peter McNamara	...	Frederick Michael Argyle
Mark Bagnall	...	The Gathering
Clare Bloomer	...	The Gathering
Mackenzie Crook	...	The Gathering
Richard Evans	...	The Gathering
Roy Evans	...	The Gathering
Paul Hamilton	...	The Gathering

Storyline

While going to the town of Ashby Wake, the drifter Cassie is hit by a car driven by Marion Kirkman and loses her memory. Marion invites Cassie to stay in her huge old house with her family, while recovering from the trauma. Cassie becomes very close to Michael, the young son of Marion's husband Simon Kirkman. He is researching a recently discovered buried church from the First Century, with images of the crucifixion of Jesus and many anonymous persons watching it. Cassie starts having visions and premonitions with some locals, and decides to investigate the weird and nasty mechanic Frederick Michael Argyle. Her findings about who she is and the mystery relative to the locals and the town surprises her.

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Plot Keywords:

witness | premonition | mechanic | hit by a car | church | 

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Taglines:

The horror is real. The terror eternal

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Did You Know?

Goofs

(at around 24 mins) Luke Fraser puts an Art Gallery DVD into a standalone DVD player, whose remote control is clearly sitting on top of the player, but he interacts with the disc using a mouse as if it were in a computer's DVD-ROM drive. You can't connect a mouse to a standalone DVD player - it only works with its remote control.

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Quotes

Dan: In England this is called "breaking and entering".
Cassie Grant: I'm not going to break anything.

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Alternate Versions

A longer version (ca. 10 minutes) of the film was shown on German TV (ZDF) which included more dialogue between Cassie and Dan, a sex scene and numerous other scene extensions. According to the ZDF, they bought this version directly from Granada before Miramax/Dimension picked it up and reedited the movie in their usual way.

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Soundtracks

Something to Believe In
Produced by Capital Town Kru
Performed by Johnny Concrete and Silver Fox
Written by I. Hoyt/P. Graham
Published by Copyright Control/Universal Music

User Reviews

No good

I wasn't expecting much at all, but it couldn't even live up to that. Essentially its' a by-the-numbers American thriller that just happens to take place in a small English town. Maybe I would've been more forgiving if it was Hollywood-glossy, extremely violent and had a sense of humor about it's own lack of originality (if it in other words had more of a postmodern vibe and was shamelessly attempting never to be boring)... but instead it's visually low-key in that European TV kinda way, I constantly expected Inspector Morse or Dalgliesh to come through the door, utterly sure of its own cleverness and complexity (which is a bit silly since there's no surprises worth talking about and it's about as deep as Models Inc.) and completely devoid of scares. Not even the cheap scares work (with one notable exception I won't get into here), nor does it deliver as a drama, since the plot demands that the central character stay pretty empty (the good ol' trick amnesia is dragged out) and none of the other characters does much of anything but spout heavy handed exposition. The film just doesn't deliver in any kinda way. Ricci is excellent, dressed in tight jeans and tight tops she's quite the visual spectacle as well, and the acting by the mainly British cast isn't bad either, but none of that can turn the script and the lackluster direction ("from the director of Not Without my Daughter comes a haunting horror movie") into a good film.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 May 2003 (Singapore)

Also Known As:

The Gathering

Filming Locations:

Isle of Man

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,346,475

Company Credits

Production Co:

Granada Film Productions, Isle of Man Film Commission, Samuelson Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1