Tragic ceremony

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.

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.

The original title of 'Tragic Ceremony' is 'Estratto dagli archivi segreti della polizia di una capitale europea', which roughly translates to 'Extract from the secret archives of the police of a European capital', a nonsensical title that is oddly fitting for this strange mess of a movie.

Riccardo Freda had a long and spotty career, but managed to direct a few decent horror and giallo films, including 'I Vampiri' (with Bava), 'The Ghost' and 'The Iguana with a Tongue of Fire'. Despite having a decent cast, including Luigi Pistilli, 'Tragic Ceremony' is sorely missing a compelling character or solid plot, and instead relies on horror gags and schlocky special effects to keep you watching.

The story follows four hippies who go camping, where we find out they're harbouring a dark secret. They run out of petrol and seek refuge from a storm at...you guessed it...a creepy old mansion where satanic rituals are taking place. There are some interesting and eerie moments along the way, if you can stay interested through the incredibly boring bits.

The script is just abysmal and characters are so poorly drawn, the actors seemingly don't know how to act half the time-or maybe they just don't know how to act. No character arcs, no back stories, in fact, it's hard to even know why we should care what happens to them. There are several moments where something incredibly shocking happens, yet the characters don't bother discussing it, not a word, just move on and talk about mundane things, as if it never happened. There are massive plot holes, catastrophic logic failures and unnecessarily detailed explanations of paranormal events.

There is one scene that's almost worth watching the entire film for, but they manage to ruin even that by repeating it over and over via unnecessary flashbacks.

If you're a hardcore Italian horror fan, 'Tragic Ceremony' might be worth a watch out of curiosity, but most people will find it tedious and a tragic waste of time.

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.

A free-spirited quartet of young hippie-types (Jane (Camille Keaton), Joe (Maximo Valverde), Bill (Tony Isbert), and Fred (Giovanni Petrucci)) are on a pleasure trip when their terminally unreliable vehicle becomes virtually unusable on a stormy night. They take refuge in the villa owned by the Alexanders (Luigi Pistilli, Luciana Paluzzi), who have a sinister agenda planned for the night. When our protagonists interfere, they are subject to more terror than they can handle.

Rather slow to start, and awfully talky at times, "Tragic Ceremony" is a standard tale in some ways (complete with the use of the "old dark house" and "stormy night" tropes), and delivers no big surprises, but it walks an interesting line between suspense and spectacle. The four main characters are set up as basically engaging people who are easy enough to watch, and the supporting cast is strong. (The great Paul Muller turns up at the very end as a doctor whose job is to provide a final bit of exposition.) Keaton, the memorable star of the infamous exploitation-revenge-thriller "I Spit on Your Grave", is a compelling, striking beauty from whom you can't take your eyes. The music (by the talented Stelvio Cipriani) is good, as well as the location shooting. But what really makes sitting through this somewhat obscure Italian genre flick worth it is the massacre that occurs at approximately the midway point. You can tell that the filmmakers were pleased with their "sword cutting into a guy's head" effect (the FX were by Carlo Rambaldi): we see it a total of five times before the film is over!

Director Riccardo Freda apparently resented the job of guiding this particular film, but the results on screen are still pretty effective. At least it doesn't play out in a *completely* predictable way; the films' second half makes it worth sitting through the first half.

Six out of 10.