Rites of Spring

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.

Never having heard about this 2011 horror movie titled "Rites of Spring" as I happened to stumble upon it by random chance here in 2024. Of course I opted to sit down and watch it, given my 40-some years love and admiration of the horror genre.

I had no idea what I was in for, but that hardly mattered, as it was a horror movie. And that was, actually, more than sufficient to make me opt to sit down and spend 82 minutes on watching the movie. So of course I had zero expectations to writer and director Padraig Reynolds, whom effectively had every single available chance to entertain and impress me with this movie.

The movie was off to a good start, because you don't get more than 15 minutes into the narrative before things already start to happen. I must admit that I enjoy movies that throws the audience right into the action or mayhem, which definitely was the case of "Rites of Spring".

However, I have to say that the narrative stagnates and sort of settles into a slump about halfway through. And the story sort of flattens out, offering no ups or downs along the way. Sure, "Rites of Spring" is a watchable movie, and if you're a newcomer to the horror genre then it will be a thrilling movie to watch. But for a life-long horror fan, then it just ended up being a bland movie.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, though the name AJ Bowen does sound familiar, I just can't mention any movie in which I've seen him act. The acting performances in the movie were fair, which definitely helped to bring the movie to life on the screen in a more enjoyable manner.

Visually okay, but you're not in for anything grand here. Sure, it wasn't a movie that was particularly needing a grandiose array of special effects, but it would have been nice with a bit more effects to spruce things up, as it was somewhat needed. And as for the killer (or creature), whatever you opt to call him, well, I can't claim that I was particularly impressed. But again, it might be sufficient and suitable to a newcomer to the horror genre.

"Rites of Spring" might be worth checking out if you enjoy horror movies and haven't been jaded by years of exposure to the horror genre. Otherwise it just makes for a somewhat bland viewing experience.

My rating of writer and director Padraig Reynolds's 2011 movie "Rites of Spring" lands on a four out of ten stars.

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.

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.

Two girls are kidnapped in the parking lot of a bar by unknown assailants. They are taken to a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere and strung up as sacrifice to a local deity that comes out in the spring. One escapes, stumbling onto a group of kidnappers right in the middle of a ransom plot gone wrong, and about to be made worse when a large, ugly beast out of a Party City costume log comes after them.

"Rites of Spring" is your definitive mediocre, boring slasher trying to be an homage to classic seventies horror. It's not bad, and those that say it is bad clearly haven't ever seen the films this is trying to remake. No horror slasher is good. Some are simply more exciting than others. This is not one of those films.

Our heroes are nonplussed actors who are not very good at what they do. But they represent the film in that they are not bad. Perhaps it is because the script has about as much life as a decorative plastic rock made to cover up blemishes in one's lawn. It's not ever particularly interesting. But it's not bad.

"Rites of Spring" is not a bad film. But it's not a good one.