Rituals (1977)

  

 

 

Here we have another one of those films where depending on what DVD you have it on (or tape, hey, some might still have this on VHS) this might called Deliverance 2 or as I have it The Creeper but the more common name for it is Rituals.  Whatever you want to call it, it stars Hal Holbrook (Lincoln, All the Presidents Men, and of course The Fog) as Harry, one of five doctors who go on a vacation to Ontario, Canada.  Once there, chaos ensues. Along for the ride is Lawrence Dane (Scanners, Happy Birthday to Me, and Bride of Chucky) as Mitzi, Robin Gammel (Last Night, Full Circle, and Nightmares) as Martin, Ken James (Youngblood and Switching Channels) as Abel, and Gary Reineke (Spider, The Grey Fox, and The Scream Team) as DJ.  That rounds out the five doctors.   

    

  

 

One by one they begin to get picked off by someone who may be a  former patient of one of them.  They begin to bicker amongst themselves as to who the patient may or may not belong to.  Clues also point to someone who may have been in the military being responsible when some dog-tags are left around one of the doctors necks in the middle of the night.  Considered a slasher; this is also a little bit of a Man vs. Nature sort of film to me.  Holbrook commented on how demanding filming was as one particular scene took nearly five days to complete.  The film is directed by Phil Carter also known for The Intruder Within, High-Ballin', and Highpoint.       

 

  

The film looks good and I'm sure it would do well on blue ray, which it is available on, but I only have my washed out Mill Creek DVD version to watch.  Maybe back in '77 this would have made more of an impact, but coming off of Deliverance which was released just five years prior this, seems like it's rehashing the same points.  Points that were done better then as well might I add.  Side note here Hal Holbrook does a great job in this.  Possibly, after The Fog and Creepshow this is my favorite performance I've seen him give.  With that being said this one still left me a little bored.  I mean, how long can I watch two men carry a third one across a river and up a mountain on a makeshift stretcher?  The answer is somewhere less than what I am expected to suffer through here.  By the time the film gets interesting midway thru, it's far to late for me to care.  This one gets two and a half old blind hermits out of five.