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For US audiences, many fans first experience with Simon Pegg (‘Star Trek Into Darkness‘,’Paul‘) was in the horror comedy ‘Shaun of the Dead.’ Now he’s returning with a similar themed film titled ‘The Gathering,’ only instead of being our hero fighting against legions of the undead we’re going to see him in a much more mischievous role as he ends up playing the devil himself, Satan. It would appear that this new horror-comedy already has a great staff as he’ll be joining with Jeffrey Combs (‘Re-Animator’,’The 4400′) as Edgar Allen Poe, David Naughton (‘An American Werewolf In London’,’Granite Flats’) as the creator of Cthuluhu, H.P. Lovecraft, and finally Doug Bradley (‘Hellraiser‘,’Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines’) as the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker. There will also be a lead cast for Mary Shelley but there has not been an actress decided upon quite yet.

With so many horror authors in the mix we quickly learn that the group is trapped in purgatory. It will quickly become clear that the reason they are there to tell their best untold tales of terror. Why the Devil wants this to happen though isn’t known to us at this time. What we do know is that while the authors are all trying to one up each other, the Devil ends up telling them that the one who waves the best story will be able to get out of purgatory forever. Of course, anytime the devil is making a deal you probably have to be wary about the terms on that.

These are some iconic horror actors who have had some amazing roles in their time and I’m looking forward to seeing them work together. Of course while they may be the leads but there are a ton of other names that horror fans will be familiar with which include Clint Howard, Gunnar Hansen, Robert Englund, Udo Kier, Lin Shaye, Ashley Laurence, Debbie Rochon, Bill Moseley, and William Sadler. This is going to be an amazing cast of people!

Director Jon Keeyes says that “We’ve tried to put a spin on the essence of the stories they’re most well-known for. So Bram Stoker tells a vampire tale, but it’s not about Dracula. H.P. Lovecraft’s story is sort of RE-ANIMATOR-esque, set in the Victorian era. We’ve approached it with the idea of what these writers would be like all these years since they died. They’ve got a slightly modern sensibility as if they’ve kept up with the changing times while they’ve been in purgatory, while still holding onto the personalities and nuances they would have had in the eras they lived in.”

It’s a shame that Lovecraft’s won’t deal with the Cthuluhu but as a huge fan of Re-animator I won’t seriously complain. I just wish they had cast Combs as the character for entertainment value with his past work on the ‘Re-Animator’ film. That being said, Combs has already previously played Edgar Allen Poe both on stage in ‘Nevermore’ and on Showtime’s ‘Masters of Horror’ anthology series, so it should surprise no one that he’d be returning to the role.

It’s an anthology horror film that sounds like it could truly be quite a lot of fun.

What are your thoughts on ‘The Gathering’? Are you looking forward to it’s release? Which scream queen would you like to see as Mary Shelley?

Source: Cinema Blend