‘Pure evil demands a pure sacrifice’
The Occultist is a 2009 American horror film co-produced and directed by Novin Shakiba (Deadly Little Christmas) from a screenplay written by Carlos Perez (Monster: The Prehistoric Project), based on an idea by producer David S. Sterling. Also known as The Ritual and 666: The Ritual
The movie stars Domiziano Arcangeli, Derek Baker and Adriana Barrera. Shawn C. Phillips appears during the end credits.
Plot:
When a group of med students go to take their final exams, they find themselves subjects of a twisted and bloody Satanic ritual led by their professor. It’s up to two of them to save all…
Review:
A beautiful train wreck of incompetent filmmaking that gleefully skips through plastic-lined sets and discordant edits while lovingly lingering over repetitive clips of sludgy low-rent special effects.
The acting is graceless, the Andy Milligan-esque direction is barbaric at best, and the maladroit script takes the viewer on a rollercoaster ride of bewilderment from goofball horror trash-a-rama to a peppy, Up with Lucifer sermon at the end.
A staggeringly laughable work of boundless ineptitude. Highly recommended for those who want to see what a well-made movie doesn’t look like.
Ben Spurling, MOVIES & MANIA
Other reviews:
“It is not scary, gory, funny, sexy or creepy in any way at all. The random killings when they occur are unconvincing and you can actually see the blood being pumped from someone’s wound at one point […] there is nothing here that even the most squeamish of films fans will find offensive.” Horror News
“The low budget is painful, but what really kills this one is the acting and the script. There’s over-the-top gory surgery to extract body parts, and for some reason, there’s also the same graphic footage of real surgery repeatedly cut into the movie in random places […] to distract from the bad acting.” The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre
