Boys and Ghouls At the Movies Part 3 (Ritual, 2006)

The third and final (to date) Tales From the Crypt film is Ritual.  You would not realize it is a Tales From the Crypt film though.  The reception to Bordello of Blood resulted in the third film being released scrubbed of any Tales From the Crypt Connections.  The “Tales from the Crypt Presents” was added to the DVD Box when it was released in the U.S. as a direct to video release, but the film remained as it was in theaters.

This means that the film lacks anything connecting it to the series.  Unlike the first to films (which opened and closed with the Crypt Keeper voiced by John Kassir) There is no Crypt Keeper host. No actual references in the titles, no entering the Crypt Keeper’s house and no comic book cover.  The irony here is that while they removed those things to avoid the connection after the failure of Bordello of Blood, this generic Voodoo horror thriller desperately could use the flavor of Tales from the Crypt, or at least an actual alteration to the formula as Demon Knight had done.

Written by the Director of the first Fast and Furious film Rob Cohen and the film’s Director Avi Nesher it is loosely based on the 1943 film I Walked With a Zombie.

It tells the tale (get it???) of a disgraced Doctor named Alice (Played by Jennifer Grey) who takes a job in Jamaica tending to a young man with encephalitis.  He believes he is a zombie under a curse.  And someone seems to be using Jamaican Voodoo to attack Alice.

There is a bit of humor to see that as the films went on, they had less star power than the original show.  But the film tackles a topic the show already did, and the show did it in the so much better.  This film lacks the humor that was such a big part of the TV series.  Which results in a dull and boring film with low level effects.  It is not that the film lacks talent, it is that they have a guy like Tim Curry and just give him nothing to do.  Why would you want to do that?

Of course, based on this image?  Maybe leaving the Dreadlocks sporting Crypt Keeper out of the film was a good idea…