A group of doctors vacationing in the wilderness soon find themselves in a fight for their lives as they are hunted and killed one by one by a person or persons unseen.
Also known as: Creeper, Ils était cinq (French Canadian title)
Subgenres: revenge, murder
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Was this a rip-off of Deliverance? Surely. Does it have that film's subtext or depth? No. What about the Peter Carter's directing--was it superior like John Boorman's? Well, no, not exactly . . . So why three stars? Well, I'll tell you, if you'll leave the italics alone. Here's why: I felt in danger during Rituals. It doesn't have any memorable lines or big actors, but I actually felt like I was out there, in the wilderness, with the doctors (some of whom did deserve to have some damage done to them, a fact that nicely complicates the situation for us). There is some potentially standard slasher-type stuff going on here, but Peter Carter manages to inject it with a sense of dread that renders the normal, well, abnormal. Hal Holbrook wasn't bad, either. Since the Deliverance comparisons are unavoidable, I'll just go ahead and say it--no, Rituals isn't as good a film, but for my dollar it's a better horror film. And I enjoyed it as such. (Aug 26, 1999) | ||||||
