Rituals (film)

Did You Know?

• The film was shot in mid-1976 on a budget of CA$600,000.
• The film was released on DVD by Mill Creek Entertainment as part of its Drive-In Movie Classics: 50 Movie Pack on February 7, 2006.

Plot

Five surgeons, former medical school cohorts, travel to the wilderness of Northern Ontario for a weekend retreat. The group includes neurologist Harry, general surgeon Mitzi, former surgeon turned general practitioner Martin, Martin's brother D.J., and Abel. After being dropped by plane, they hike to a lake and build a campfire, drinking and arguing about their specialties. The next morning, their boots are stolen.

D.J. volunteers to hike to a nearby hydro-dam for help. That night, Mitzi finds a severed deer head with a snake coiled around its spinal cord, resembling a caduceus. The others suspect D.J. is responsible. Searching for D.J., the group triggers a booby trap releasing a beehive; Harry, Mitzi, and Martin flee into a lake, while Abel is thrown over an incline by a shadowy figure, breaking his neck.

Harry and Mitzi again blame D.J. The three survivors stop at a river. Martin confesses to Harry his alcoholism and a failed relationship with a male lover; Harry shares his own experience quitting drinking during the Korean War. Mitzi finds a rope left by D.J., and they plan to cross the river in the morning.

Release

Rituals opened in Montreal on August 26, 1977, and was released in the United States in late 1978, screening in Hartford, Connecticut from September 16, 1978. The Terror Trap rated it 3.5 out of 4 stars, praising its atmosphere, editing, and Holbrook's performance. Justin Kerswell of The Hysteria Lives! gave it 4 out of 5 stars, writing that the wilderness had not held such terror since Deliverance. John Townsend of HorrorNews.net praised the film for its character and story without heavy special effects.

TV Guide gave it 1 out of 5 stars, calling it a cheap north-of-the-border rip-off of Deliverance. Leonard Maltin rated it 1.5 out of 4 stars, deeming it unpleasant. Stephen King recommended Rituals in his 1981 book Danse Macabre, listing it among roughly one hundred excellent horror films and marking it as a personal favorite, though he did not know the director's name. The film was released on VHS by Embassy Home Entertainment in 1985, on DVD by Mill Creek Entertainment in 2006 and 2007, by Code Red in 2011, by Filmchest under the alternate title The Creeper in 2012, and by VFN in 2015.

Scorpion Releasing issued a limited-edition Blu-ray in January 2019, and reissued it with alternative cover art in association with Kino Lorber on January 21, 2021.