Spooky season is a great time to try something new, and indie horror has a lot to offer. From serious story-driven ventures to schlocky B-movies, there’s just a lot of genre diversity within horror that creates a delightful mixed bag of options for all fans. It’s one of the things I love about diving into indie horror blind, and I was excited to get the opportunity to watch this one early.
The Ritual House is the second movie from director, dancer and actor Crystal J. Huang, and it’s another foray into the horror genre. The story follows Donna (played by the film’s screenwriter Donna Spangler) who inherits her father’s house after his untimely death. Saddled with debt, she decides to turn the house into a boarding home. The house though, as the title indicates, is a place with a troubled history and very quickly Donna finds she’s in for a lot more than she bargained for.
There are two lenses through which to view this movie: the serious horror drama or the campy B-movie. Though I’d venture to guess the former is the intention of the creative team, I think it’s actually a much more successful movie when viewed through the second lens. The setting is interesting, the cast is decent and the deaths are a lot of fun and always come out of nowhere. I found myself having a really good time watching this just taking off my critical reviewer hat and just letting the movie carry me.
That being said, this is a review and I would be remiss to not mention some of the issues. There is a lot of filler in this movie. Scenes of tension or build-up are interrupted by scenes of people making their bed, taking clothes out of their dryer, etc. It doesn’t ruin the movie by any means, but I just wish there was less of it.
While I overall enjoyed the cast, I found Donna Spangler hard to watch as the lead. Her delivery was very wooden, and since the script itself doesn’t lead to much emoting, it gets worse throughout the movie. The story is kind of all over the place and while it didn’t really bother me overall, it made the movie hard to follow at points. The special effects … well, they’re hard to look at. Less bad CGI and more in the realm of a Windows 95 screensaver.
While I don’t think everything worked, there were some really interesting shots with mirrors and shadows in this movie. There was thought put into the setup and some attempts at experimentation throughout. It’s certainly low-budget, but I found it very enjoyable. I also think the scenes where the movie allows its characters to just lean into the campy nature of the setup and story, it becomes super fun. Every good scene just made me wish the movie had more scenes like it.
The Ritual House is a lot of fun, but it is flawed. The attempts it makes to be a serious haunting story ultimately fall flat, but it shines in other ways. If you’re a fan of camp, this is worth a watch with a group of friends.
The Ritual House is now available to stream on Tubi.