Simon Pegg, Jeffrey Combs join Jon Keeyes’ The Gathering; more cast revealed

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Everyone loves a well-cast horror film, and now we're learning of a new fright pic coming our way that has one of the most impressive line-ups we've heard in quite some time.

Fangoria recently spoke with producer/director Jon Keeyes about his upcoming film THE GATHERING where the helmer revealed that he has been in the process of gathering one hell of a cast for what sounds to be a kick-ass project. Keeyes shares…

“We’ve got Simon Pegg attached to it now. He’s going to play the devil, and because of that, we’ve suddenly got a whole lot of interest in THE GATHERING again, and it’s starting to really push forward.”

But the SHAUN OF THE DEAD star isn't the only name to be excited about as Keeyes also shared that a genre fave will also be involved and will be returning to a role that has found him much acclaim. Says Keeyes…

“We’ve got Jeffrey Combs playing Edgar Allan Poe."

Now that, friends, is badass! THE GATHERING will find Combs returning to the part he has essayed so vividly on TV in the "Masters of Horror" episode "The Black Cat" and on stage in NEVERMORE.

But there's even more horror heavyweights onboard the project, suddenly elevating THE GATHERING to one of my most-anticipated films. Keeyes shares…

“David Naughton is playing H.P. Lovecraft, Doug Bradley is playing Bram Stoker and for Mary Shelley, we’ve got a couple of major female names who have said they’d like to do it, but we’re going to wait and see what happens once the financing lands. And then we’ve got Udo Kier, Clint Howard, Robert Englund, Lin Shaye, Ashley Laurence, Gunnar Hansen, Bill Moseley, Debbie Rochon and William Sadler committed to do the movie—it’s a huge cast.”

How could you not be stoked about this? That's one of the most impressive line-ups I've ever heard for a horror flick. But, of course, you wanna know what THE GATHERING will be about, right? Keeyes gives a little insight as to what the screenplay, by Carl Kirshner, has in store for us.

“On Halloween night, the devil brings together Mary Shelley, H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe in purgatory to tell their best untold tales, the idea being that whoever has the best story of the night gets to leave purgatory forever. That’s the framing device around all the anthology stories within the film.”

As for the tales the authors tell, Keeyes shares…

“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 slighty 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. So there’s a whole lot of bickering and rivalry.

“One of the things I love about THE GATHERING is that we cover all the horror subgenres—vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, slashers—within our stories, but in the framing segments with the devil and the writers, there’s a real comedic-horror element going on. They’re taking jabs at each other, and they each have a bit of magic they get to play with since they’re undead, so a lot of fun stuff happens with that.”

Keeyes also revealed that Vincent J. Guastini (THE DEVIL’S CARNIVAL, CABIN FEVER: PATIENT ZERO) will be handling the makeup FX for THE GATHERING, which is targeting a May start date.

This film sounds so cool and I can't wait to hear and see more from it. We will, of course, keep you posted on news regarding THE GATHERING as we hear it, so keep checking in.