Of interest almost solely because of a rare acting performance from Alejandro Jodorowsky, this Italian psychodrama proves a baffling, underwhelming dud. As our heroine battles depression and an incredibly frustrating and overbearing boyfriend, she leaves their kinky S&M infused city life to stay with her aunt in a creepy old country house. There the ghosts of the past, both literal and metaphorical, plague her further. My biggest problem with this film was its lack of conviction for the characters and story it had at its disposal. The film never pries into the erotica of its central relationship, nor delivers any real scares when it decides to be a horror film. In the end, it’s just a pretentious mess with nothing to say.
Ritual: A Psychomagic Story
