The Red Book Ritual

Not any good at all? If I really have to think of something positive to say then I would like to point to the photography, which wasnt bad. Not great, but not bad either. So some kind of attention for detail went into making this movie, BUT...

The bad: these actors are incredibly terrible. They are so terrible at trying to come across scared or dangerous that it is really, honeslty laughable. While it is definitely not intended to be a comedy, but it has got that effect on me.

The story is gibbledigook nonsense. Well, a lot of stories in the movie business dont make sense, but there is a level of silliness that I do not like tot watch and this "movie" is guilty of just such a silliness.

What a waste of time and money.

Recommended to be avoided...

It mad no sense didn't explain how the witch came about and was alot little stories in one movie thrown together with no sense of reason. Watch of time watching and trying to understand it... ugh many thumbs down. It wasn't as scary as i thought it would be. Leaves you with alot unanswered questions and some stories left me saying "Wth" I'm lost or just didn't get it. Wasted my precious mind watching this.... you want torture somebody make them watch this piece of crap confusing movie. I like movies that explain why she became witch and why she so evil and came about. I need background information to be happy and I WAS FAR FROM FREAKING HAPPY!

I'm shocked at how badly this movie is rated. Like most anthologies I've seen, the framing narrative is the weakest part. The individual stories are great looking and genuinely tense. The production value is higher than most low budget horror we watch.

Bea is apparently newish in town and has made a couple of friends who tell her a creepy story about her new house and suggest playing "the red book game". It's a kind of divination game and I'll admit we are totally going to try it because it looks fun. The book directs them to read it, resulting in several short stories that are completely unrelated to each other. Some are stronger than others as you might expect. The framing narrative is a let down but I rarely see an anthology where it isn't.

Side rant, the guy is supposedly 27, looks 40 and shouldn't be hanging out with teenaged girls anyway. I wasn't rooting for him to survive.

We watch a lot of bad horror movies, it's our hobby, so maybe our bar is really low for what makes a decent movie? This one isn't bad by any means and we really liked a couple of the shorts. It's not fast paced, it is aesthetically nice, it had some moments that made us squirm.

I have to admit that I was initially lured into watching the 2022 horror movie "The Red Book Ritual" given the movie's cover and its title. Sure, I hadn't even heard about this movie from writers Ariel Luque and Daniel J. Phillips prior to sitting down to watch it.

However, I must say that "The Red Book Ritual" fell short of entertaining movie. The storyline was just too much of a scrambled and incoherent mess. So it was difficult to get submerged into the movie here. And even more so since the storyline was all over the place, and never felt like anything that was brought out on the screen ever got to be completed or brought full circle.

The acting performances in "The Red Book Ritual" were adequate. It was just a shame that the actors and actresses had so little to work with in terms of a properly written script and storyline. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in this movie, and that is usually something I enjoy when watching movies, but given the subpar script here, then I just found little enjoyment as the movie trotted on.

Visually then "The Red Book Ritual" was an adequate movie. However, the special effects just could do only so much to lift up an otherwise poorly written storyline.

If you enjoy horror movies, like I do obviously, then do yourself a favor and stay clear of directors Chris Beyrooty, Dean Law and Ariel Luque's 2022 horror movie.

My rating of "The Red Book Ritual" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

The Red Book Ritual promises an ominous occult game but delivers a grab-bag of shorts glued together with little care. Each segment feels ripped from better films-K-horror possession, desert-highway demon, witch-house clichés-yet none is given the space or logic to land. Performances range from wooden to outright comical, making it impossible to fear for, or even hate, the paper-thin teens at its center. Stylish lighting and a neat synth cue can't paper over cheap effects, sloppy dubbing, and lack of payoff. Even anthology devotees will struggle to stay awake through its cliffhanger endings. Skip the ritual; read a better book instead.