Directed by Peter Carter
Five doctors go camping in the remote woods of Northern Ontario. When their boots are stolen they begin to suspect they are being stalked.
The Creeper, Deliverance 2 (Rituals), Deliverance 2, Creeper, Rituals - Il trekking della morte, Ритуалы, 仪式, 儀式
Canada14A 
USAR 
Sweden15 
Norway18 
MexicoC 
France 
Germany16 Canada France Germany Mexico Norway Sweden USA 
The absolute fucking worst time anyone has ever had camping guaranteed or your money back.
This has been compared to Deliverance, and rightly so, but Rituals stands up on its own as a deadly and hopeless trek through the wilderness and how different people react in situations. Starts off slow before tensely unraveling as the group realizes they are being fucked with... from that point on, we are IMMEDIATLY thrusted into some high drama survival horror, where each member of the group begins exhibiting increasingly toxic behavior. Hal Halbrook knocks it out of the park as usual.
I watched the DVD, and from what I hear there is a new blu ray (Code Red, I think?) coming soon and I'll definitely be picking that up for the collection.
There's at least three very shocking moments where I said "OH FUCK" out loud.
"A lot of careful hatred has been put into this"
Deliverance coated in the grim of the grain, washed out in yellow hues of stalk and terrify. Stolen boots and dead deer with serpentine spines warped into a macabre totemic threat of "I know who you are but you do not know who I am". Well worked plans push victims toward the source of the slow burn fire; the laborious brush and scrub becomes bleak and burned out the closer to the inferno; a sick irony in the abandoned dam devoid now of water and of any signs of help. Broken leg liabilities and severed heads on sharpened spikes. Xrays providing clues that aren't as much clues as they are…
Having just finished another “survival horror” film (Hunter’s Blood), I figured I should go ahead and check this one out since I’ve seen them mentioned together in several places.
Five doctors go on a wilderness retreat only to find themselves stalked by persons unknown. It sounds like a shameless ripoff of Deliverance but it actually has its own story and backstory so it manages to stand on its own. There are some wonderfully tense scenes. My favorite was when they cross the river. Yikes. The performances are all quite good. Hal Holbrook is always a treat to watch and he gives it his all in this one.
I really loved the setting. The first half takes place in the woods…
this is exactly why you should bring extra shoes with you when you go camping
Survival horror about a group of doctors who are stalked by an evil presence while venturing into the wilderness. Suspenseful and disturbing this film creates a sense of uneasiness and fear. Similar to Deliverance or Just Before Dawn but more gritty and raw.
The great performances made the film more believable and made the physical and mental hardships appear more realistic. The subtle and creepy score elevated the slow creeping dread and made the environment feel extra isolated.
The version I watched was pretty poor quality so the movie was pretty dark and hard to make out at times. I imagine a better quality version would have made for a more enjoyable experience.
My second viewing of this film and have added an extra star as I seemed to vibe with it a lot more on a rewatch. I have been suffering from a cold I just can't seem to shake the last few days so have been feeling like death warmed up most days, anyway while hopped up on medication I decided to give this Canadian "survival" flick another watch. With a premise that consists of five friends - all doctors with various issues in their life going on a trip into the wilderness where after having their boots stolen they soon realize they're being stalked by a mysterious killer. It's not long before secrets are revealed and ongoing tensions between the…
Though Rituals is considered somewhat of a Deliverance ripoff, it really doesn't feel like Deliverance. There's a feeling that creeps on you while watching, a mixture of some of the more subtle unexplained horrors and the wide shots giving subconscious nudges of complete desolation. It has its own intentions and though it may have used the popularity of Deliverance to get made, it falls more into the proto-slasher world and should be categorized along with Black Christmas, Bay of Blood and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a forming subgenre on the verge of explosion.
“A lot of very careful hatred has gone into this.”
Oh yeah this is the shit. Slow burn dread. I wouldn't have guessed it from the beginning coz it’s about 5 stale old dudes, but this is peak survival horror.
Really well written. It’s like a King novel where everyone’s given enough space to be more than just generic filler but, unlike King adaptations, it actually transfers to screen. There’s meaningful to and fro and friendly conflict. Conversations overlap. There’s points where these old friend’s lives have splintered off and now everyone has their own demons. Altogether it serves to create robust characters with real feelings and it grounds the emotional toll of events rather than just moving the physical…
I’d like to say I have a pretty good memory but I literally could not differentiate the men in this because they all looked the same (ugly)
"A lot of careful hatred has been put into this"
Genuinely scary survival horror with a cast of weathered old character actors that feel like they really have been friends for decades, little rivalries and moments of joy and arguments and all of it.
And then it shoves them into hell.
Watched the Scorpion Releasing US Blu-ray.
Thanks to Bellegorno and Mosquitodragon's enthusiasm for this film in the comments section of my "Natural Enemies (1979)" write-up, I've bumped up "Rituals" for a watch. And oh boy, what an awesome and bleak survival thriller this turned out to be!
Much in the style of John Boorman's excellent "Deliverance (1972)", this film takes a group of five city doctors on a trip through the Ontario wilderness called "The Cauldron of the Moon". They're completely isolated as they're dropped off by plane and are soon stalked by unknown assailants who start with stealing their boots, making their trek instantly more painful and slowly upping their attacks with psychological and fysical terrors.
As threatening as…
