Estratto dagli archivi segreti della polizia di una capitale europea

Tragic Ceremony is certainly tragic. This 70s attempt at Satanic horror is lazy and meandering, in a bad way. A wealthy man, a pretty young woman who at first appears to be his date, and two hired men are sailing on a beautiful day. When they set up camp on the beach, it becomes obvious that the three men are actually all friends and that the lady is with one of the poorer fellows. Fair enough.

Even audio in Italian couldn't save this film. The lead actress has a terrible face, she always looks like she's upset, defiant, or pouting. She never reacts normally to any circumstance - being quietly rude to her hostess at the mansion, then switching to unnaturally calm after she's almost sacrificed to the devil.

But wait! That's only the middle of the movie!

The group tries to run away from the Satanists to find shelter, only to be kicked out by the rich guy's mom. When they flee to his father's cabin instead, the aforementioned rich guy suddenly appears dead in an antique armoire, and the immediate cause can only be that he's covered in green paint. Yikes.

Some stars are world-famous and forever immortal for just one role they played. Camille Keaton, for instance. She was the lead actress of the notorious "I Spit on Your Grave", in which she cut off the wiener of a rapist in a bathtub and instantly became a cult siren. What most people have forgotten, however, is that the lovely and damn sexy Keaton also starred in a handful of Italian gialli/thrillers, including this oddly amusing genre hybrid.

The official title roughly translates as "Extracts from the Secret Police Files of a European Capital". Since it's a downright horrible title, the film is commonly known as "Tragic Ceremony", but even that is slightly misleading. "Tragi-comical Ceremony" would be more apt, since the titular black mass where the film builds up towards to is literally a MESS. The film starts out with a free-spirited and hippie-like atmosphere, with four young friends on a yacht, around a camp site with a guitar, and in a dune buggy. There's one girl for three boys, so monogamy is definitely out of the question. The buggy runs out of gas on a stormy night, and a vicious gas station attendant sends them to the mansion of the wealthy Lord & Lady Alexander. Then quickly comes the hilarious "ceremony"! The intention is to sacrifice one girl (Keaton) but the whole thing turns into massive bloodbath, with extremely cheesy gore and chaotic shrieking. Although the undeniable highlight of the movie, the insanity doesn't stop here, since our young friends escape from the mansion but nevertheless die in mysterious and gruesome circumstances shortly after.

The plot is shamelessly and blatantly inspired by the, in 1972, still fairly recent murders committed by the Satan-worshiping followers of Charles Manson. The name of poor Sharon Tate is even boldly mentioned. There are quite a few dull moments, but "Tragic Ceremony" is curiously addictive horror oddity worthy of its cult status. Several great names involved, too, like director Ricardo Freda, writer Mario Bianchi, composer Stelvio Cipriani, and acclaimed cast members like Luigi Pistilli and Luciana Paluzzi.

This somehow odd film from Italian Cult Gothic Horror director Freda ("L'Orribile Segreto del Dr. Hichcock") is almost unknown and extremely difficult to find nowadays.

Made a year after his rough Giallo "L'Iguana Dalla Lingua di Fuoco" (see also my comment on that), the title suggests yet another Giallo (it means "Taken From the Secret Police Files of a European Capital" and fits perfectly into typical over long and wonderful Giallo titles like "Il Tuo Vizio e una Stanza Chiusa e Solo Io ne ho la Chiave" of the same year). But, in fact, this film is not a Giallo at all - but a Gothic horror story about a cursed pearl necklace and a strange Satan's Cult which gets confronted by a hippie quartet on a day out. The story sounds unique, and the film is it, too.

Made on a very low budget, Freda made more than the best out of it and created a strange movie with all the classic Gothic elements, and also boosts a handful of astonishing gore effects that echo the rude sequences of his Giallo a year before.

The cast is lead by Camille Keaton of "I Spit on Your Grave" fame, while Luigi Pistilli ("Reazione a Catena") delivers another neat performance as the leader of the strange Cult. The soundtrack is composed by Stelvio Cipriani and is cool as usual. A film worth looking for despite its rarity.

This late-ish effort from Freda plays as a modern day (70's that is) Gothic thriller, but comes out short of thrills. Certainly it's not a dreadfully bad film, it's jut got that feeling which many of Freda's later films have of someone who has given up when he's seen the first daily's. It starts out good enough, almost giallo like in tone, then takes a turn into Gothic territories with a decent (albeit terribly cliché) set up. Then suddenly Freda seems to have lost interest in the film and all we get is prolonged shots of Camille Keaton and burning candles. Then circa an hour into the film we get some sort of violent climax with decent-to-poor special effects. This is followed by a slow paced outro with a very obvious twist ending (If it's even intended to be a twist?). And throw a few very halfhearted explanatory scenes along the way and you got Tragic Ceremony. Thus in parts it's got its qualities. But then suddenly stumbles and collapses in front of you. A pity.

btw stay away from the SHAROMA DVD, a useless murky pan& scan edition which kills of what could be a good visual experience.

Strong first half and mediocre second half.

The first half is filled with the slow building dread of the occult. There is a wonderful and unexpected climax that I won't spoil.

Then, the second half begins. And it kind of devolves into a mini-slasher story. The film recovers in the final scene which ties back to the first half.

It's def worth checking out for the fan who has already seen everything and likes genre bending.. even if it's only partially successful.