Tragic ceremony

Original title: Estratto dagli archivi segreti della polizia di una capitale europea

1972
1h 27m

IMDb RATING

5.4/10

724

YOUR RATING

Four young people witness a black mass at a remote English estate, and find themselves terrorized while they attempt to make sense of what they witnessed.

Play trailer3:41

1 Video

63 Photos

Crime Horror

Four young people witness a black mass at a remote English estate, and find themselves terrorized while they attempt to make sense of what they witnessed.Four young people witness a black mass at a remote English estate, and find themselves terrorized while they attempt to make sense of what they witnessed.Four young people witness a black mass at a remote English estate, and find themselves terrorized while they attempt to make sense of what they witnessed.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.4/10

724

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

User reviews24

Featured review

6/10

Worth seeing just for Camille Keaton

An early appearance by Camille Keaton gives Tragic Ceremony its main point of interest. It's not as good as What Have You Done to Soalnge?, but her role is substantial enough for fans to check it out.

Probably it ranks as the second-best of her Italian-era appearances. Her icy beauty and blank expression are suited to her largely passive role.

The plot falls into the Old Dark House genre, with four fashionable and well-off young people becoming stranded at a mansion on a stormy night. Sort of like a straight non-musical version of Rocky Horror.

Black magic and other supernatural events follow, with logic going out the window. The supernatural elements keep this from really being considered as classical giallo.

But there is a fair bit of detective work and violent crime, so some people still put under the giallo banner. It's not apparent in the costumes and locations, but the action is supposed to be in the UK as Scotland Yard is mentioned.

Overall, it is a bit of a generic mix of Gothic horror and police motifs that never reaches its full potential.

Trivia
Riccardo Freda always resented directing the movie.

Goofs
No explanation why the dune buggy that breaks down at the Alexanders's and has given so much trouble is fixed and ready for a quick getaway from "The Tragic Ceremony".

Quotes
News Reporter: According to the latest findings, it would seem like this gruesome massacre, strangely reminiscent of Sharon Tate's murder, could be linked to a small group of hippies in the villa.

Alternate versions
The Spanish prints are shorter than the Italian version. In Spain, portions of the scene where Camille Keaton takes a bath are cut - in fact, all shots with nudity are edited out - and the whole "explanation" by Paul Muller at the very end of the movie is missing. Spanish prints include an end title where the Italian print have the title song on a black screen.