What makes it different from others?

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Rites of Passage is a flawed piece of filmmaking about a college dweeb trying to prove his manhood to his peers by dragging two van loads of his peers plus a professor (played by Stephen Dorff in a nothing role) out on a field trip to his family home in order to observe ancient Indian land on his property and take ancient Indian hallucinogens.In the meantime, his disturbed brother (Wes Bentley) is almost as obsessed with finding a woman as he is with Native American history. He, along with his deranged, grieving grounds keeper (Christian Slater), have been cooking, using, and selling the hallucinogenic flowers as well. Of course, it's bad news when these two unstable characters run up against a bunch of pretty young students, especially when a tragic coincidence turns out to link them in an unexpected way.The short review of this movie is that it sucks. Essentially, it's just an overcomplicated dead teenager movie with an above average cast. In one of the few highlights of the movie, scream queen Brianna Evigan pops up in a smallish part and spends most of her screen time in her underwear. In fact, most of the actresses are either in their underwear or bikinis for most of the movie but there's no actual nudity. Not much gore, either. And the characters aren't remotely likable so this is the sort of movie where you're hoping for everyone to die but disappointed when the death scenes are generic, mostly bloodless and generally forgettable.Rites of Passage is all over the place, silly, and kind of pointless. It's not really an anti drug movie, it's not hardly scary, and it's not often funny. The only entertainment value comes from Christian Slater's crazy, over-the-top acting as he scrambles around waving a shotgun, muttering to himself, and hallucinating. Basically, imagine Tucker and Dale vs. Evil made without any of the wit.

I think the overall movie was okay. Wasn't my type of movie but it kept you on the edge of your feet. I like how it was based around college students, made it more interesting. Not a fan of scary movies like this but its was okay. I think they could have done a better job marketing the movie so i would have gotten to more people. I think it could have been a movie that more people would want to see.I whole story of the movie is very interesting. I like the start of the movie but not the end. I think it got a little fake.I would recommend this movie for people like like watching thrillers and don't mind getting jumped from there feet.

I have to admit that I was very skeptical about watching a low budget film that I had heard nothing about, but Rites of Passage was a non stop thriller that had it all. I was very impressed what Peter Illif was able to do with the cast he was dealt, and also how he was ale to shoot the entire film in Santa Barbara. Their was controversy over the objectification of woman that this film supposedly has, but i thought it was a pretty accurate portrayal of how parties are in Illa Vista. Sure their were parts that went a little too far but its a movie what do you expectOverall the acting was much better then I anticipated. Slater delivered a solid performance and the supporting cast did a very nice job excluding the one actress who was given the role of the bad girl who always curses. The premise of the film was extremely original and is definitely hard to take seriously if you have not taken psychedelic drugs before or understand what they are capable of. I give Rites of Passage 2 thumbs up and recommend it to anyone over 17.

The film had a lot of characters, which had great quick character development that created a lot of tension and intrigue.It was a fun movie with some great scenes. It was not offensive to the Chumash. It also presented Jimson weed in the dangerous light that it should have. I did not like the ending, but that's just because things end too fast (like most films). And I did not like portraying psychedelics in a negative light but I separate my opinions from the fact that it was a very entertaining, very well written and well executed film.For all the critics, I'd love to see a film you made.