Rites of Spring

Current IMDb-score on this is 4.6. Now, this is maybe not the greatest movie ever, but it is not that bad.

I saw this at Frightfest Glasgow some years ago, and I thought it wasn't too shabby. Now, my score might be a little high because I saw it at a film festival, and that leaves a different impression than seeing it at home. (Maybe I'll yank it down a star, later some time)

Rites of Spring is like two movies in one. Kind of. I knew very little of it beforehand, which is a good thing, and it kept me guessing for a while.

I seem to remember the gore being pretty decent, not that it was that much of it, but it was good.

Didn't scare me, but kept me entertained.

A ransom scheme turns into a nightmare for a group of kidnappers who become victims of a horrifying secret that must be paid every spring.

Horror fans will instantly recognize AJ Bowen, the current independent horror go-to actor. Beyond that, many faces appear on screen that we may never see again. There is particularly terrible acting from the father character, which might take some viewers out of the movie.

This might appeal to some people, but it never seems to quite capture what it was going for. While it starts as a kidnapping film, it turns into something like a poor man's "Jeepers Creepers". And even then, there is an undercurrent that is not far removed from "It". At no point does anything seem quite original enough to merit respect.

Not terrible, actually the 35-40 minutes are pretty interesting and fairly creepy during the horror portions and tense during the crime portions. I have to take serious mark down for having a weak ending (that I think was really meant to imitate Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and some logic issues about how the scenes with the kidnapper in the barn plays out. (Everyone is that close to him, he's assaulting a friend, but no one tries to kick/shove him off? Then he goes down and a dude twice his size doesn't take the opportunity to beat his ass? C'mon now.) That said, it's as fairly solid effort with good atmosphere and is well shot. Worth a view on Netflix or whatnot.

I'm not sure what the worst thing is about this low budget horror yarn, the script or the directing. The script, I think, although the direction is pretty poor and uninteresting. The problem with RITES OF SPRING is that it's all so predictable, and it has less going on than even the likes of a WRONG TURN sequel.

The story tells of a kidnapping gone wrong, as a group of kidnappers attempt to take a rich man's daughter in return for a big ransom. A second storyline sees a couple of young women kidnapped by a creepy old farmer, where they are to become lunch for something terrible living in the basement. Eventually the two plot strands combine in the most predictable way imaginable.

There's very little going on here and nothing we haven't seen before. The shocks and twists are very well telegraphed and of the type we've seen countless times. The characters are thinly drawn and the performances completely forgettable. All this has going for it is some half-decent make-up and some okay gore effects, but that's hardly a reason to keep you going; this is barely watchable.

If Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th) and The Creeper (Jeepers Creepers) were to have a baby, Wormface would be the result. It's a low-budget slasher/creature movie that didn't knock my socks off, but didn't leave me gagging either...Well, not too much.

If you're not too anal retentive about your horror movies, the film in itself is not as bad as the others I've seen where I wanted to pour bleach in my eyes after seeing the first 5 minutes, sometimes less. You just have to understand that this movie is not up to par with the great horror classics. It's unoriginal, cliché-ridden and there are numerous flaws as you go along.

However, the actors are good and the cinematography is not bad either. Their shots of the corn field reminded me of Husk, which is an excellent film, by the way. The ending would probably leave you scratching your head, thinking WTF just happened. There are some loose ends left in the story that attempted to add some mystery, but failed.

In short, it's like an appetizer film that would be good to watch on a lazy night. It's watchable, if your expectations are not that high.