Rituals (1977)

Having missed the screening of the Canadian slasher film My Bloody Valentine because of a major power outage here in Toronto, I decided to quench my thirst for Canadian horror by rewatching this Deliverance inspired flick. I first heard of this in Stephen King's fantastic Danse Macabre book, where he makes the bold statement that he liked this more than Deliverance. Granted, I wouldn't go that far, but Rituals' got the goods. Anyway, once a movie's over 30 years old, who cares if it's a rip off? And Deliverance has spawned some great films (including this one) that were inspired by it. Southern Comfort, Hunter's Blood, Beverly Hills Chihuahua. The list is endless. Rituals has some great performances, good dialogue and a gripping atmosphere. And it's nice to see a film about a group of adults (doctors no less) rather than teens stalked by a killer. Highly recommended to fans of horror and survival movies.