25 Greatest Christmas Films: #7 — ‘The Gathering’ (1977)

I was in grade school when The Gathering first aired in 1977 — right in the middle of that second Golden Era of television that within a few years produced Rich Man Poor Man, Roots, The Night Stalker, Holocaust, Jesus of Nazareth, and Salem’s Lot. And while I missed the Emmy winner for Best Drama back then, twenty years later my intense dislike for Ed Asner’s obnoxious politics almost caused me to miss it again during a rare broadcast late one evening right around the holidays when I couldn’t sleep. 

What a mistake that would’ve been (and after “Up” Asner can now do no wrong). The Gathering kept my full attention until almost dawn and made such an impact that I made sure to grab the first opportunity to catch it on VHS a couple years later. Which is a good thing because for some inexplicable reason one of the best television films ever, and most certainly the best Christmas television film ever, hasn’t been available on home video for years, was never has finally been released on DVD, and only rarely broadcasts on cable anymore.

That’s the long way of saying, keep your eye out because this one’s special and hard to find… (more…)

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Tags: 'The Gathering' (1977), 25 Greatest Christmas Films, ed asner, Emmy, Holocaust
Posted Dec 19th 2009 at 10:28 am in Classic Hollywood, Film | 26925017 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/19/25-greatest-christmas-movies-7-the-gathering-1977/25+Greatest+Christmas+Films%3A+%237+--+%27The+Gathering%27+%281977%292009-12-19+18%3A28%3A56John+Nolte

Oh, The Horror!

What is horror?

The word comes down to us from the Old Roman, horrere, which means literally “to stand on end” (as in hair) or “to shiver,” whether from fear or cold – Ovid refers to the “chill-bearing breath” of the North Wind (Metamorphosis, I.65).

Halloween is a unique holiday, marked for the celebration of the chill bearing, when demons and witches are allowed to come out to play and scare the bejezzus out of us – or at least, that’s how it used to be.

Over the last decade or so, Halloween has become less about creep and more about camp; Dracula and Frankenstein costumes replaced by Octomom and Obama masks (OK, those are more scary). What I want to do here is help those who would like go old school this year, and have a truly frightful All Hallows’ Eve.

(First suggestion – avoid bars. Like St. Patrick’s Day and New Year’s, Halloween brings out the amateur drinkers, a more loathsome species than any undead thing you may encounter. No, Halloween is best spent alone with someone special to snack on in the dark, with something scary to read, listen to, or watch.) (more…)

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Tags: Alien Sex Fiend, All Hallows' Eve, Bauhaus, Catastrophe Ballet, Catch 22
Posted Oct 31st 2009 at 6:18 am in Featured Story, Film, Music | 25323870 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/10/31/oh-the-horror/Oh%2C+The+Horror%212009-10-31+13%3A18%3A52Matt+Patterson