Christina Ricci stars as Cassie Grant, a young woman from America who is traveling on foot through England. On her way to Ashby Wake she is hit by a car and knocked unconscious by Marion Kirkman (Kerry Fox), who was being distracted by her son, Michael (Harry Forrester), in the back seat. Marion calls for an ambulance but when Cassie is examined at the hospital she is found to be barely injured, sustaining only scratches and not even a concussion. She is, however, unable to remember who she is beyond her name and what country she is from. Marion, out of guilt, invites Cassie to stay with her and her family until her memory comes back.
Meanwhile two young adults are killed while attending the Glastonbury Festival when they hike up a hill and fall through a hole in the ground. The hole reveals a buried church with a statue of Jesus on the cross and of several other people seemingly watching the crucifixion. Marion’s husband, Simon (Stephen Dillane), is among the team sent to investigate the buried church and he brings home many photos and sketches of the old statues. As Cassie is recovering from her memory loss, walking the streets of the town, she begins seeing not only people that look just like those statues in the photos, people who seem to recognize her, too, but also various townsfolk with fatal injuries as if she is having visions of how they will be killed in the near future. She also develops a bond with Michael whom she begins to fear may also be killed soon. Added into this stew is a local mechanic, Frederick, who was abused by the local clergy as a child and, because the townspeople did nothing at the time, has decided to take justice into his own hands, planting bombs and going on a shooting spree, his final target: Michael.
The central premise of The Gathering is solid. A familiarity with The Wandering Jew is not needed but does help put the pieces together and make some sense of the storyline here. However, enough changes have been made to the legend that even a casual recollection of the tale may not be enough to recognize that this is what the mystery boils down to. For instance, instead of a heckling Jew, mocking Jesus Christ as he is being led to his crucifixion, we have a group of people who came to see the death of Jesus out of sheer morbid curiosity. The results for them are the same as the Jew, doomed to walk the earth for eternity, observing death and pain for all time. It seems odd, though, that after all this time some of them would seek to create these types of situations rather than be eternally weary of what they are forced to witness. The film does a poor job of explaining this change in their behavior.
Christina Ricci is top billed in this supernatural horror film and for the most part she is effective. There are a few scenes here, especially in the final third, where it becomes obvious that she is acting. When called upon to portray complex emotions the wheels start to come off and her limitations as an actress manifest themselves. Perhaps she was just badly directed or was given limited takes to get things dialed in. This is not an easy role to effectively convey and she’s not bad at it, but she’s not that good in it, either. This is a role that she would take on several more times over the next twenty years to mixed results.
The Gathering is shot in a way that instantly dates it to the early 2000’s with heavy use of slow motion and quick camera movements. This not only dates the film but also gives it a juvenile look like it was shot in a hurry like a made for television movie of the week. Poor production values further cheapen the look of this. Much of the film takes place in just a couple of locations, failing to truly capitalize on the locations in England it was filmed at.
As a film in general this one is just slightly above average. It does have some genuine chills at times but it gets mired down in a mystery that isn’t very well developed. Still, the premise is solid and the choice to film in England, even if it’s not fully capitalized on, adds to the ambience of the whole affair. The film was butchered in the editing room, carving thirteen minutes off for most of the world, leaving the full cut only available for television viewings in a few countries. These excised scenes are apparent in the North American cut and further add to the confusion of the story.
“For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’” These words from John Greenleaf Whittier sum up my feelings for The Gathering. It’s a film that could have been good. It struggles against some truly poor choices in the filmmaking and editing processes that make it hard to champion. Christina Ricci is game and gives it her all but either she was poorly directed or found herself in over her head with this role. The ending feels tacked on like the writers needed a happy ending that doesn’t feel organic to the legend, too. This might have been a good overall movie but it needed a better director at the helm who could envision things in a way as to supersede its low budget and give us some true scares and atmosphere. Instead it’s not very strong and even less convincing.
Release Date: May 17, 2002
Running Time: 83/97 Minutes
Rated R
Starring: Christina Ricci, Ioan Gruffudd, Kerry Fox, Stephen Dillane and Harry Forrester
Directed By: Brian Gilbert
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