The Gathering (2002)

Interestingly this film has taken 7 years to be released on DVD in Australia, I do not believe it was released theatrically and having just watched it, I can see why. Christina Ricci must have been fairly desperate for a pay cheque in this completely disjointed religious horror/thriller. She plays Cassie, an American drifter in the UK who, whilst on her way to Ashby is hit by a car. The driver, Marion (Kerry Fox in a role that is a complete waste of her talent), takes her in after she learns that Cassie is suffering from Amnesia as a result of said car accident. Meanwhile, the local Bishop is on a scientific mission after 2 teenagers have stumbled upon a buried church that contains a representation of the crucifixion possibly created by someone who actually witnessed it. They hire Simon, Marion's husband and author of many books discrediting religious artifacts to do the investigation. Cassie starts having weird dreams and hallucinations that seem to predict future events and is haunted by people that stare at her, yet appear to be unseen by others. This coincides with Simon's discovery that people depicted it the churches crucifixion scene appear throughout history in times of human crisis.....

what does it all mean you may ask, well the film itself doesn't really seem to know. Character development is non-existent and I am completely at a loss for the motives of "bad guy", what little we can gleam suggests that the church knew about these misfits all along and just buried it, which is what they choose to do once again....because that obviously worked the first time?!

The acting is poor, the story is full of holes and superfluous plot points, the cinematography is not all together bad and the music is kind of creepy in its own way. Not sure about the club version of the themes over the intro and end credits though.

I enjoy religious thrillers or stories with religious undertones, Stigmata is a great example of a religious thriller done well (at least if you watch the director's cut), this film is a good example of one that has an interesting idea, but lacks the direction and application to succeed and with a cast as strong as it has I was hoping for something much better.