The Red Book Ritual

The appealing artwork on this makes it a bit of a letdown. To cut to the chase, this cannot be compared in the same class as some of the good or great anthology offerings. (It's no V/H/S, Creepshow, Tales of Halloween, Tales from the Darkside, Trick R Treat, or Cat's Eye- just to name a few). It's a random collection of amateur-acted horror shorts to walk through if you seek these out (horror film festival grade). That doesn't mean all the content is bad- a couple or few of the shorts are pretty decent, but most of them have no closure (and lack adequate cohesion to be a "short story"). One happens to be dubbed quite poorly over Korean actors (especially the young girl.. oof!). The synth track overlaying the last short caught my attention several times in a good way; it was probably the best entry (imo). Prepare for some daring nudity in the first short. My rating may be generous, but I'm a seeker.

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!

It's an Indie film not a big budget production so if you have high expectations you are going to be disappointed.

Overall, it's not a bad collection of stories, some better than others, and equally some of the acting is not going to win any awards.

Even so, it is perfectly watchable with some interesting twist and turns and enough to keep you engaged (with the occasional groan) for the near ninety minutes it is on screen.

It is certainly better than a lot of the American teen cabin in the woods films that have flooded the horror genre in recent years.

So if you happen to see it is available then it is worth watching.

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.

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.