rituals (1977) - part 1 of 2

the "is it worth watching this for lawrence dane" rating: 5/5 (and the movie itself is a 5/5 as well)

i stumbled across this movie entirely by chance - it was on shudder and happened to be playing when we started up the tv, right at the tail end of a pretty brutal scene. at first i didn't want to watch it because of that, lol, but my spouse convinced me to since it was visibly from the 1970s and i generally have an easier time with older horror films (they're the horror buff, not me). maybe they regret that now that i've watched it five times since the beginning of march, haha.

this is the performance of his career. a real tour de force. which isn't to say it was all downhill from here, of course, but he inhabits his character so completely that i never once thought to analyze his acting the first time i watched this. mitzi is a fully-realized character and dane brings ian sutherland's already organic-feeling dialogue to life. it's a good script, though the mechanics of the story itself could use a little polishing, and the little details that dane and the other actors bring to their roles make it easy to believe that these characters have known each other for a long time. we don't need to be hit over the head with it; just tagging along for the hike is enough. according to dane the majority of the film was shot in sequence, so the exhaustion they embody as the narrative progresses is real enough and only enhances their performances.

the ensemble cast is phenomenal but it wouldn't work nearly as well without holbrook and dane tying it together, and the juxtaposition of their suffering with these sublime landscape shots makes for a very compelling film.

the plot: let's get one thing out of the way - if you look this movie up you're bound to find people comparing it to deliverance. (apparently dane himself acknowledged that comparisons would be inevitable but knew that they were doing something different.) maybe this is a controversial opinion but rituals is a far better film - there's no homophobic rape scenes and no "villainous redneck" stereotypes. there's a fleeting instance of homophobia, sure, but it's literally one line snapped during a moment of frustration. (side note: that's the scene that cemented the idea of mitzi/dane as my oc maurice, since maurice is a self-hating closeted old-school homosexual and would have said the exact same thing. while we don't learn that kind of information about mitzi and we don't need to, thinking about him like that is still interesting/amusing to me.)

this thoughtful review gets into the plot very nicely so i won't rehash the details here. do give that link a read if you're interested in the film - my focus is on dane/mitzi rather than a "proper" review.

rituals is arguably more of a suspense/thriller film than a horror film, at least in the sense that horror is commonly understood today, but the rawness of the situation is visceral either way and the sparing use of gore is quite effective. the emphasis is on thoughtful character studies, not shock value, and that helps it hold up better than certain other films. it's not a perfect movie but it's a damn good one nonetheless (and perhaps even because of its flaws, since there's more openings for someone to sink their analytical teeth into).

unfortunately, dane's audio commentary is inaccessible to me so if i remark on anything that's already covered by the audio commentary then you can blame people's reluctance to provide closed captions for "bonus" material (if the film itself warrants captions then it stands to reason the other material included with the home release should as well, assholes). anyway, buckle in! rituals can be watched on the streaming service shudder, if you have a subscription, or for free on archive.org as well as youtube, so if you want to check it out before reading the rest of my post go for it. just make sure you watch the version that's closer to an hour forty, because if it's shorter then that's the version where a distributor cut out a bunch of character development fsr.

(the person in the comments on archive.org who's complaining about the bickering is dumb because that's the best part of the movie imo. it's so funny sometimes in a way that doesn't detract from the high stakes, since it feels realistic. like of course these guys who are scared and upset and already have strained relationships aren't going to be having a great time!)

highlight of the first half of the movie: grr bark bark etc he is so sexy when he looks condescending

screenshots and further commentary under the cut. several images have been altered to try and compensate for the poor film preservation. warning for surgical gore and other violent imagery

 

 

( long post is long )

and that concludes the first half of the film! saving the juicy slur scene for next time lol. after i write up part two i'll link it here. i just have a lot to say, ok, but pls feel free to go ahead and share any thoughts/questions you might have!

part two is here