Rituals (1977) coming to blu-ray... (1 Viewer)

[Winston T. Boogie]

OK, this is, to me anyway, big news and I will explain why. This film is basically what I would describe as the "Canadian Deliverance" as it features a group of male friends, doctors, that take a vacation in the woods together and encounter locals that do not take a liking to them...and things take a very bad turn.

It is a good film with an excellent cast of character actors that raise this film well above most films in this genre. Hal Holbrook is the central character and as usual gives a fantastic performance here.

So, while this is great news for those of us that know this film or enjoy this sort of backwoods horror/survival genre there is something that makes this release a bit more amazing. Currently and for some time the only available way to view this film or the best way to view it is a DVD available from Code Red. Now this is, I think, the most complete version of the film out there and the DVD was sourced from a badly beaten up but as far as anybody knew I believe, only existing print that was owned by either the producer or director of the film.

The legend is, I believe, that elements of this film were destroyed in a fire and so what we got on the Code Red DVD while welcomed as a way to see this rarity produced a pretty horrible and at times so murky you could not at all tell what was going on image.

So, my big question is how was Scorpion Releasing able to pull off a restoration and blu-ray release of this picture? As far as I knew there were no elements to do so and so the DVD version was thought to be the best this picture was ever going to look. Not to mention it seemed unlikely anybody would even go to the trouble of restoring a film like this that probably most people have no idea exists.

So, if you know this picture this is amazing news. If anybody from Scorpion lurks or posts here I would love to know how you managed this and where the elements for the restoration came from. Plus I would like to thank you for doing this and express my sincere gratitude that you made this effort and are bringing this film to blu-ray.

I highly recommend that if you have never seen this film and you enjoy horror, films set in the forest, survival stories...that you give this film a shot because I think it is a much better film than many of the more famous films in the genre. Mainly because the cast is so good and this is not just teens or twenty somethings wandering around in the forest getting sliced up by a masked killer.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Shot in the Canadian wilderness...

 

[TravisR]

So, my big question is how was Scorpion Releasing able to pull off a restoration and blu-ray release of this picture?

On Facebook, they said

Scorpion Releasing in conjunction with TVA presents Peter Carter's 1977 backwood Thriller RITUALS. Here is the debut of our cool custom cover art by Nathan Thomas Milliner. The first 2000 copies will have a slip sleeve. We are restoring this film from several different elements so it will be a few months before we release the film. The bonus features from the original Code Red DVD will be included on our release. We will keep you updated on the release.

Based on that, I'd guess that they've found at least a couple more prints to use.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Wow, well I can say that based on what I have seen and read about this film any effort to restore it would be a major undertaking. I was excited to get the Code Red DVD and I recall a discussion at the time about if it would ever get an upgrade to blu-ray and the answer being that the elements to work from were so bad that it would not be worth attempting. Essentially, the story was there just was nothing out there in terms of elements to work from that would allow a proper restoration. The Code Red DVD is pretty ugly even for a DVD and if I recall even the sound is sort of a mess loaded with cracks, pops, and hiss. I mean I love that they did it but it seemed obvious this was a film where they were totally at the mercy of the limitations of the source materials. I have always viewed it with the idea that I am watching a badly beat up print through a single drive-in movie theater speaker in a parking lot circa 1978...so not under the best conditions.

I am very curious how this will turn out on this new blu-ray.

 

[TravisR]

The Code Red DVD is pretty ugly even for a DVD and if I recall even the sound is sort of a mess loaded with cracks, pops, and hiss. I mean I love that they did it but it seemed obvious this was a film where they were totally at the mercy of the limitations of the source materials. I have always viewed it with the idea that I am watching a badly beat up print through a single drive-in movie theater speaker in a parking lot circa 1978...so not under the best conditions.

I am very curious how this will turn out on this new blu-ray.

I'd expect alot of those problems to still be evident. That's not a knock but as you basically said, they're at the mercy of the elements.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Yes, I am excited they are doing this and the room for upgrade is pretty massive based on how the DVD looks. So, I am all in on purchasing this new blu-ray when it becomes available. There are scenes including near the climax of the film where you are left guessing what exactly is happening because the image is so dark and in such poor shape. So, can this look better? Certainly. How much better? Who knows. If they managed to turn up some new elements to work from perhaps they can improve greatly on the existing DVD. It is certainly going to be interesting to see what they manage to do.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Sadly, at the moment the update on this seems to be they were unhappy with the HD master they created and so have gone on a search for better elements to work from...which worries me because as noted in the opening post the story has been that no good elements to work from exist.

This is a tough film to restore...

 

[Richard V]

Is this film know by another name? I could have sworn I've seen this movie, but under a different title.

 

[Worth]

Is this film know by another name? I could have sworn I've seen this movie, but under a different title.

Deliverance?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Is this film know by another name? I could have sworn I've seen this movie, but under a different title.

I believe there was a version released as The Creeper but this is some sort of different edit.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Deliverance?

I think it may have got a home video release somewhere titled Deliverance 2...which hilariously it is not.

 

[Richard V]

I believe there was a version released as The Creeper but this is some sort of different edit.

YES!!!! That is it! Thanks.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, as an update, this is now available to order on blu-ray. I have not yet seen it so can't comment on how it looks. I believe the people from Scorpion are issuing it with the caveat that they were at the mercy of the limitations of the source materials...which seem to be the same materials used for the Code Red DVD unless I missed something. As Travis noted above in his quote from Scorpion they were "restoring from several different elements" and I don't know what those are but it would be great if they had an alternative to the incredibly murky night scenes on the DVD.

That said...this would have required a lot of work. I will update here once I have seen it but obviously nobody should expect something that looks like the restored Spartacus. I would say though that undertaking bringing something like this to blu-ray should be considered...well...heroic.

 

[TheSteig]

I thought overall it looked excellent. The scenes during the day were sparkling. The last half hour just like the DVD still had some issues but it was certainly a big improvement. This is just my opinion seeing and hearing it with my own two eyes,
Image 3.5/5
Audio 4/5
Pass / Fail - PASS
Upgrade from the DVD - Yes !