#proto-slasher

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Country: United States

Directed by: Tobe Hooper

Rituals (1977)

Rituals is a movie that sits in a very interesting place alongside movies like The Hills Have Eyes, an urban vs rural survival film, but one that is beginning to take on elements that would later come to define slashers. The setup is fairly standard: five city doctors go on a trip in the picturesque-yet-isolated Canadian wilderness, conveniently stranded until a plane comes to pick them up several days later, who find themselves being preyed upon by an unseen assailant. But that assistant does not attack or confront them directly, instead stalking from the shadows, going through the effort of taunting them, making it clear that he had the power and opportunity to kill them, but was instead choosing to drag out their suffering with calculated attacks and traps meant to injure, rather than kill.

However, while the initial build to the realization that they are being intentionally targeted by someone with “careful hatred” is suspenseful, once it reaches the point where that fact is clear, it kinda stalls out. Leaving quite a bit of time where the stakes are known, but thanks to the small—and shrinking—cast of characters, unseen killer, and isolated location, there’s nothing that can be done about it other than screaming at each other at no-one in particular about the situation as they slog through the wilderness to the next plot point. And when you do get to the conclusion, it’s far from satisfying. It is a movie that poses important questions about what’s going on, suggests some possibilities, but then ends up going with the least interesting option. The “who” and “why” of the killer do get answered… more or less, but not in a way that really feels like it adds any meaningful context to what you’ve just watched.