DVD Review: The Gathering

Christine Ricci stars in this thriller that’s been locked in the Weinstein’s vault since 2002. It really didn’t deserve such a fate since it really isn’t too bad.

A couple of kids are walking to the top of a hill. The boy has the girl go ahead of him. She’s talking to him and turns around and he’s vanished. She goes back to find him and finds out what happened to him when she falls down the same hole in the ground that he fell into. Their rescuerers don’t find them in time to save her, but they’ve fallen into the buried remains of an ancient church. Simon Kirkman (Stephen Dillane) is the local expert called in to investigate this discovery.

A hidden chapel holds an ancient secret

The chapel is set up strangely since the figure of Christ on the cross is facing away from the chapel and towards bas reliefs of figures staring at the cross. Around the same time, an American backpacker is run over on the roadway by a distracted Mrs. Kirkman (Kerry Fox). Mrs. Kirkman takes the girl to the hospital and eventually takes the girl, who has a case of amnesia, into their home since she feels responsible for injuring her. The girl is named Cassie (Christina Ricci), that’s about all she can recall, and finds herself at home in the Kirkman family and becomes a sort of nanny to their two children, Michael (Harry Forrester) and Emma (Jessica Mann). She starts to take the kids to school and around the village, but she also begins to have bloody visions about several people in the village. She also starts to notice some dour looking villagers that seem to be observing her. She gets some help from a local (Ioan Gruffudd) to investigate the mystery. Simon and the local church officials keep uncovering information about the church and the results involve an ancient curse. Soon Cassie’s visions begin to come true and she has to protect the Kirkman children since one of them involves Michael, but are things as they appear?The Weinstein Company is a bit of an odd duck to me. Don’t get me wrong, they make some good movies but on occasion they make movies and put them in the vault and don’t release them. They also have a tendency to edit them to their own liking (both films they make and films they buy). I wonder if they buy so many films that they can’t keep up with them and they end up getting lost in the shuffle? Cassie feels like shes being watched

Cassie feels like she's being watched

According to the IMDB, the Gathering has some scenes that are in the trailer that aren’t in the movie. This DVD version runs 87 minutes and supposedly there’s a 102 minute cut out there somewhere. Whatever the case, the film is not as horrible as you might suspect. It has an interesting concept and is not deserving of the fate of languishing in some vault for about four years. True, it doesn’t have too much in it that’s original (kids in peril, heroine with amnesia, ancient curse) but the concept behind the church is an interesting one. However, there is one plot point you’ll spot from a mile away. [Spoiler warning on] The revelation about the bystanders at the crucifixion being cursed to watch terrible things happen to mankind through eternity was an interesting one to me. However, I tend to agree with one of the characters when he says that he felt that they were somewhat severely punished for doing so. Haven’t we all craned our heads at a car wreck or the like? It was pretty obvious that Cassie was going to be one of them though. [Spoiler warning off]The Gathering is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. There are no special features, not even the trailer for the movie. This is a shame if the rumors of different footage appearing in the trailer are true. The Gathering is not really plowing any new ground, as far as horror movies or thrillers go, but it’s not bad enough to have been locked in a vault for four years. I thought it had some horror/thriller staples, but it did entertain me for 87 minutes. I also think it would be a worthy rental.