Ritual of Death (1990)

When a local acting company decides to stage an updated version of an Egyptian ritual involving human sacrifice, they unleash a dark and evil force. A vengeful satanic priestess uses the ... See full summary »

Director:

Fauzi Mansur

Writers:

Filipe Grecco, Anthony Roark

Stars:

Olair Coan, Karina Palatnik, Tião Hoover

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Olair Coan	...	Brad
Karina Palatnik	...	Carol (as Carina Palatinik)
Tião Hoover	...	Mickey
Serafim Gonzalez	...	Old Librarian
Michael Kelly	...	Jim
Sérgio Hingst	...	Uncle Parker
Lilian Ramos	...	Liza
Graça Costa	...	Mysterious Woman
Léo Robinson	...	Police Officer
Mara Husemann	...	Brad's Mother
Ana Flora	...	Brenda
Vanessa Alves	...	Shirley
Eduardo Panizza	...	Jack
Leticia Vota	...	Mary
Alfredo Gonzalez	...	Conrad

Storyline

When a local acting company decides to stage an updated version of an Egyptian ritual involving human sacrifice, they unleash a dark and evil force. A vengeful satanic priestess uses the acting troupe to summon the spirit of a fanatical cult leader.

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Plot Keywords:

human sacrifice | acting troupe | cult leader | satanic priestess | resurrection | 

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Taglines:

An Ancient Rite Unleashes a Bloodthirsty Demon!

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Genres:

Horror

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Details

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Filming Locations:

Brazil

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Awesome supernatural slasher trash fun

I always had a feeling that Brazilian horror had more to offer than just the shenanigans of good 'ole Coffin Joe, but only recently did I get to experience this glorious proof of my suspicions. Ritual of Death makes a beeline straight for the most deliriously inspired of territory and more or less sticks there, seekers of sense and coherence can pretty well not bother but for fans of the kookier side of foreign trash horror, its made of win. It charts the grisly craziness that befalls when an amateur theatre group gets a hold of a translation of an Egyptian manuscript detailing sacrificial rites to the god of death, rites that have led to ghastly happenings in the past. Suffice to say, the past awakens and actor Brad starts to come under some pretty bad influence… Now the script may not make a whole lot of sense, but director Fauzi Mansur sets about business with near magical intuitions about how to keeps things awesome. The first half has more of a supernatural vibe, so we get visions, ritual sacrifice as reality, dream and theatre and a whole bunch of stuff that may or may not be real but certainly makes for fun viewing. Colorful costumes, cheap and cheery set designs, score that fixates on powerful drums, alarmed synths and rudimentary eerie tunage (kudos Michael Kelly), a sweetly overwrought atmosphere of compelling unhingement howls bug-eyed at the viewer and it's really something to behold. Mix in boobs, pus oozing decay, jump cuts to a sinister bowler hatted man and a totally off the hook bloody bathtub fornication/severed goats head love scene and you got something close to purest bliss. Unexpected toads and messy eating get in on the action too! Then as things go on, the film works in some plot developments and sidles into slasher mode, so we get some gruesome slaying as things build to the inevitable daftoid finale. Zonked out dubbing provides unintentional humour, as does what sounds suspiciously like a misplaced fart at one point and the sillier effects will surely get some giggles too. Not much to say about the acting, but Sergio Hingst is suitably menacing as the aforementioned bowler hated menace, Olair Coan is a decently distressed leading man and the women are often pretty attractive, so its all good. Its been a while since I was this entertained by a trashy horror film, all bar hardy trash fans will likely find it terrible but I straight up loved it. Obscur-amongous, but dopey and gored up trash lovers would do well to hunt this sucker out I'd say.