Surprisingly incoherent and boring

i must have seen a different film!!

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Frequently compared to 'Deliverance', this Canadian horror film likewise involves a group of adult friends who decide to spend the weekend camping in the wilderness with grisly results. The approach of 'Rituals' is noticeably different though in that the group find themselves teased by a sadistic stalker whose identity remains a mystery until the end. The men here are also doctors and less-than-honorable ones at that; their early conversations all revolve around malpractice and charging exorbitant fees, and when they realise that someone is out to get them, their first thought is that is must be a patient out for revenge. This guilty conscious theme is very interesting with the film almost existing as a manifestation of their deepest fears and paranoia. A further intriguing aspect is all the in-fighting that goes on between them, including how to carry one of their wounded friends on a makeshift stretcher; they almost seem done in by their inability to cooperate. Solid as the film might sound though, it builds up to a rather underwhelming final twenty minutes with the killer never really menacing or fascinating when revealed. By all accounts, the original script did not reveal the killer and it is easy to imagine that approach being more effective. The project could have also benefited from a more downbeat ending given all the guilt and paranoia motifs, but for the most part this is solid stuff.

"Rituals," also released as "The Creeper," follows five doctor buddies who go on a fishing trip in the wilderness, and in true backwoods horror fashion, find themselves hunted like prey by someone, or something.Kind of like a more nihilistic "Deliverance" turning in on itself, "Rituals" is an under-appreciated horror-cum-survival film that cranks into a borderline war drama in its final act. Predating the slasher boom of the eighties, "Rituals" is one among a small crop of films made during the 1970s that, if not directly birthed, at least anticipated the heyday of '80s splatter. The film's influence can be seen in movies like "Just Before Dawn" or "The Final Terror," both of which crib both the survivalist elements as well as the slasher trappings we see in "Rituals," substituting middle-aged doctors for teenagers and college students. The fact that we have doctors in the main roles here certainly puts a spin on the slasher dynamic that is quite unusual.There are fantastic scenes throughout the film, namely the bear-traps-on-the-riverbed scene which is probably the most famous. The cinematography is hard-edged and captures the looming danger of the natural landscape. A younger, handsome Hal Holbrook leads the film as Harry, with support from Canadian actors Lawrence Dane, and Robin Gammell, playing a non-flamboyant, non-stereotypical gay man, which is something of an anomaly for a film made in the period, let alone a slasher flick.Overall, "Rituals" is an above-average terror-in-the-woods thriller that exceeds its budget limitations through solid performances, effective cinematography, and a narrative that thrills as much as it ensnares. The rather downtrodden ending is unsurprising by today's standards, and one sort of sees it coming, but the journey towards it is where the real depth of the film lies. All in all a gritty, cerebral survival film. 8/10.

A low budget thriller that doesn't even apologize for being a cheap rip off of "Deliverance." Five doctor buddies (played by Hal Holbrook and four unknown actors) go camping in the wilderness and are set upon by someone or something who begins to track and terrorize them. The threats are at first not much more than fairly harmless if mean-spirited practical jokes -- their boots are stolen, a dead deer is strung up in their campsite while they sleep. But things escalate, one of them dies, another suffers from a broken leg, and the men soon find themselves in a primal fight for their survival. Along the way, the aggressor drops clues that help the dwindling group of men form a notion of who he is and why he's chosen to terrorize them.There's a lot of raw potential in "The Creeper" that only served to make me wish it had been a better movie. The film is in such a hurry to get the men in peril that it only cursorily outlines who they are and what role each plays in the group dynamic. The ragged edges of the film's production value actually helps to contribute to its visceral brutality, but they're a liability during all of the scenes set at night -- and there are many of them. Indeed, I couldn't even follow the last confused 10 minutes of the film because the screen was literally too dark to make out anything.The acting, though, is pretty decent, especially from Holbrook, and the film invokes images of Vietnam to what I have to believe is intentional effect. By the end, Holbrook's character looks like he stepped right out of the "The Deer Hunter." I can see a movie like "The Creeper" having a cult following.Grade: B-

After being absolutely stunned by how good "Hunter's Blood", another "Deliverance" clone was, I had great expectations for "Rituals". It is however, almost a total misfire. The character development is nonexistent, there is way too much meaningless chattering between the five doctors, and all of the night scenes are so dark due to a lab error, that it is impossible to tell what is going on. If you like watching bad acting, tedious dialog, frequent blackouts of the screen, and an unseen menace, then this is the movie for you. I rate "Deliverance" 7.5, "Hunter's Blood" 6.0, and "Rituals" 4.0, for all of the above reasons. - MERK