FilmWitchcraft & Occult Supernatural Splatter & Gore

Tragic Ceremony1972

Name: Tragic Ceremony
Genre: Witchcraft & Occult, Supernatural, Splatter & Gore
Released: 1972-12-20
Rating: 5.9

Directed by Riccardo Freda

5.9

Crypt Score

Blended from 2 sources

IMDb 5.4TMDB 5.0

✍ Review

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Year

1972

Runtime

83 min

The premise

After a peaceful sailboat ride, four young people, including rich kid Bill, Joe, Fred and Jane, knock on the door of a secluded villa after their dune buggy runs out of gas. Earlier in the day, Bill had given the lovely Jane a pearl necklace with a supposedly paranormal history, and this later opens up a can of worms. They are invited to spend the night at the mansion, owned by Lord Alexander and Lady Alexander, who happen to be hosting a strange ceremony that night attended by a group of eccentrics in black robes. During the evening, Jane exits her sleep chamber, seemingly in some kind of trance, and is lured to a sacrificial alter where the robed houseguests are hovering over her. As a knife is about to be plunged into the young lady, her three friends come to the rescue, but they are also witness to a chaotic mass murder catastrophe in which they flee with feelings of guilt and uncertainty.

Horror Vault's take

Four young friends stumble into a secluded Italian villa seeking help after their dune buggy runs dry, only to find themselves unwilling guests at something far darker than a dinner party. A mysterious pearl necklace with a troubled past seems to draw one of the group toward a shadowy black-mass ceremony hosted by the estate's robed inhabitants. What begins as a strange overnight stay erupts into bloodshed and chaos, leaving the survivors haunted by what they have witnessed and their own role in it. This early-seventies Italian horror curio blends giallo atmosphere with occult dread and a Camille Keaton performance worth seeking out.

Content: Violence, Mass Murder Sequence, Occult Ritual Imagery, Peril Involving A Female Character