Tragic Ceremony
| Tragic Ceremony at Villa Alexander | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Riccardo Freda |
| Music by | Stelvio Cipriani |
| Edited by | Jolanda Benvenuti |
Running time | 82 minutes |
Tragic Ceremony (Italian: Estratto dagli archivi segreti della polizia di una capitale europea, Spanish: Trágica ceremonia en villa Alexander, also known as Tragic Ceremony at Villa Alexander) is a 1972 Italian-Spanish thriller-horror film directed by Riccardo Freda.[1]
In 2004 it was restored and shown as part of the retrospective "Storia Segreta del Cinema Italiano: Italian Kings of the Bs" at the 61st Venice International Film Festival.[2] The film was never dubbed in English and had no real distribution outside of Spain and Italy. It is only available in subtitled form.
Cast
- Camille Keaton as Jane
- Tony Isbert as Bill
- Máximo Valverde as Joe
- Luigi Pistilli as Lord Alexander
- Luciana Paluzzi as Lady Alexander
- Irina Demick as Bill's mother
- Paul Muller as Doctor
- José Calvo as Gas station attendant
Plot
A group of young hippies get lost in a wooded area in a rainstorm, and are allowed to spend the night in an isolated castle in the forest by the owners of the property, a weird looking man (Luigi Pistilli) and his beautiful wife (Luciana Paluzzi). Late at night, Jane (Camille Keaton) is separated from the group and led to a hidden chamber where she is to become a sacrifice to a cult of devil worshippers. Her friends manage to rescue her just before she is to be killed, and they manage to get back to their car and escape from the castle grounds. The cultists, having lost their sacrifice, go berserker and attack each other with machetes and swords, as the hippies make their escape. However, the youngsters soon learn that although they are miles from the castle, the menace has followed them into the forest and will not allow them to escape.
References
- ↑ Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 1991. ISBN 8876059350.
- ↑ Simone Pinchiorri. "Mostra di Venezia 2008: "Storia Segreta del Cinema Italiano: Italian Kings of the Bs"". La Repubblica. Retrieved 18 December 2013.