The Rite of Spring

Until recently I had never heard of the late British film maker Michael J Murphy but I splashed out on Indicator's blu-ray box set "Magic, Myth & Mutilation", a collection of micro budget horror and fantasy movies shot on 16mm. As it is currently the month of April I thought that The Rte of Spring would be an apt start. It is essentially a poor man's Wicker Man clone but set in rural England and Edward Woodward's policeman is replaced by a young virginal priest (James Renyard). Throw in a bit of "The Most Dangerous Game" plus a bit of sexual demonic possession. I came into this with low expectations and although I would not call this a good movie it is not terrible either. Overall I found the acting to be reasonable, some of the rural accents are quite laughable (I live in the rural West) but at least the token American character was played by an American (Timur Kocak). Another reviewer complains about the "horrible music" but I thought it quite suitable, I also liked the cheap but gory special effects, such as a maggot infested decapitated head. There were two options on my blu-ray disc, I went for the 90 minute 2K restored version, it did feel stretched at times. The other option is a re-edited 81 minute version, sadly not restored but I imagine that the pacing would be better, I will probably opt for this in future. I love both low budget and British horror so am looking forward to delving deeper into the director's filmography, rather than put me off Rites has wetted my appetite!

I love Michael's output, but this was a real letdown and I thought it could have been truly good with a bit less talking and a bit more fun and action.

It goes like this. Charming village, people turn up, a LOT of talking happens, it builds up SLOWLY to a climax and, well, it has a bit of action and fun towards the end but it is too little too late.

It needed better pacing - with a lighter touch, tighter edit and less infernal talking, conversations, exchanges of opinion, pontificating, debating etc. It could have been more like The Wicker Man and less like The Boring Man.

The final scene made me snort in amusement. But took too long to get there, nice to see some period cars though, particularly the Vauxhall.

Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" is a modern masterpiece and it is a shame that it has become eponymous to this film. Inconsistent acting, terrible dialog, no sense of pacing, horrible music and audio mixing, and nonsensical editing make for one of the least enjoyable movies I have ever seen.

As someone who enjoys terrible B-Movies in an ironic sense, I can still not recommend this film. The entire film insists on trying to be intelligent and present a sense of mysticism but instead comes off as pretentious and dull.

Overall this is one of the most boring, vapid movies I have ever seen.