Films That Witness Madness

review

TRAGIC CEREMONY

Beating SUSPIRIA to the punch by almost half a decade, Riccardo Freda's TRAGIC CEREMONY mixes a bit of the giallo with a heaping portion of Gothic supernatural thriller. While not as strong as Argento's masterpiece, TRAGIC CEREMONY (whose original title translation is FROM THE SECRET POLICE FILES OF A EUROPEAN CAPTIAL) offers a few decent chills, some great carnage, and decent performances from a cast that includes the beautiful Camille Keaton and genre vet Luigi Pistilli.

The plot, as it were, concerns Jane and her three platonic friends on their way home from an afternoon outing. Bill, the rich dope with mommy issues, gives Jane a pearl necklace in hopes of winning her affection. Through a flashback we learn that the pearls used to belong to a young woman thought to have been possessed by the devil. When a storm forces our party to take refuge at an old estate owned by Lord Alexander, Jane finds herself under the spell of the Alexander's sexy wife and almost becomes a sacrifice to a group of cultists performing a dark ceremony in the basement of the estate - if goes without saying that, in these kinds of films, any old estate in the middle of nowhere is housing a Satanic cult. When the boys rescue Jane and disrupt the ceremony, the cultists go a bit wonky and start offing each other in spectacularly gruesome fashion. Our party speeds off and makes haste for Bill's home in order to figure out what they should do next, blind to the fact that something evil might still be pursuing them.

The last act of the film focuses on our group at a house belonging to Bill's father, following the news reports and trying to decide their course of action. Missing an opportunity to capitalize on the tension between the group, Freda forges ahead with a simple, forgettable climax, as each of our heroes meets their demise in the most laughable fashion imaginable. The film collapses just as it was beginning to take off. When one of our party falls out of a closet, dead, his face painted blue with what appears to be poster paint, you might be tempted to stop the movie entirely. Do it. Stop the film right after the escape from the estate and you'll be much happier. All you get otherwise is a few lame deaths, a head-scratching final reveal, and a psychologist's attempt at explaining away all that came before.

Riccardo Freda was a helluva filmmaker with a resume boasting over 50 films. Having seen a number of his work - including the excellent giallo, IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE, THE WITCH'S CURSE, and THE HORRIBLE DR. HITCHCOCK - I was disappointed by the sloppy, detached manner in which he chose to shoot TRAGIC CEREMONY. It's not a bad looking film, per se, only unimpressive, with haphazard pans fighting for equal screen time with long static takes. Even the ever-reliable Stelvio Cipriani under-performs, his usual varied compositions thrown out in favor of a droning, folksy score. No one does catatonic stupor like Keaton, though, and her fans won't be disappointed in seeing her sleep walking through her numerous scenes, appearing topless, naturally, in a few. Unforgiveably short screen time for both Pistilli and Luciana Paluzzi, as Lord and Lady Alexander, adds insult to injury.

TRAGIC CEREMONY falls under the category of "almost". It's almost good, almost intriguing, almost satisfying but nothing more. Had the film had a slightly larger budget - most of it looks to have been blown during the massacre scene - or a tighter script, it would have been better off. As it is, TRAGIC CEREMONY is little more than a curio piece or a bit of fluff entertainment for a lazy Saturday afternoon. It's strongest scenes simply cannot make up for the tedium of it's worst.

Recommended for Freda - and Keaton fans - only.

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