User Reviews

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*

So there was this big, horned demon on the video box. It was singing to me and begging me to watch it: "Come closer sucker. Won't you rent the scary demon movie?" I was helpless in its gaze. Deer in the headlights. Direct hit.

I watched it and was ripped off. Again. These horror movies have got the art of the video box down to a science. Too bad the movie making part still eludes some. This movie is a complete yawner. I thought they were saving their money to show us something somewhat exciting near the end. What a joke. It started with nothing and ended with nothing. It was a renter too so I couldn't even bash it to pieces to get some satisfaction. Dang.

This film uses a lot of religious imagery that was rather deep and disturbing in many ways. The acting in the film is NOT as bad as other reviewers claim. The film is beautifully shot but the movie slows at some points. All in all - the dialogue, cinematography, acting, music and direction were pretty good for such a low-budget indie film. ***SPOILER TO FOLLOW*** My favorite moment in the film is when the Demon Lady turns into that naked, shrivelled-up, troll-thing in front of the bleeding crucifix and scurries backwards out of the room! Now that's something you don't see every day!

A fascinating, innovative, and unique storyline graces this film, which deals with an angel who became jealous of the nazarene because he was so close to God; which was to violate the Luciferian sin of Pride - and as such, was cast down from 'Heaven' and hits upon a desert where she is eventually visited by a most impressive Satan {with ingenious uses of both prosthetics and makeup by Joe Castro, whose credits include 'Weird Science'}, who imbues her with his essence, to which her eyes turn into a bluish hue, inclusive of cloven hooves, {it was later related to this reviewer that the hooves were actually camel toes, which work remarkable well}. So the angel is imprisoned within a box-like container likened a genie in the bottle, or 'dybbuk box', until just the correct circumstances are achieved again during a summoning ritual, which incorporates a red Pentagram with candles at the points - the "Pandora's Box" itself resembles a trapezoidal container.

So a group are gathered this night to accomplish this conjuration, but none may step within the Circle with the demon, lest they be consumed, for this is how it feeds. Little by little, bit by bit, the demon takes whatever victims it can, driving one girl insane, possessing her as well, by using the metaphor of the serpent as representative of The Devil / "Evil", which enters through her mouth upon which her ocular countenance transforms to the likeness of the demon. Eventually, she finally manages to escape through a "crack", as it were, of the circle by which the blood of a sacrificial dog resembling Benji, and the fact that not all the candles are lit. So she takes demonic form, which was a bit refreshing from the angelic veils of white image with the golden skullcap thusfar, is entirely red, naked, horny and bald, she lurks about in the darkness of the house until the possessed girl finally comes to her senses, but not after too much inane dialogue transpires.

Another critique, is that I would love to have seen more of The Devil, who should have been given a much more prominent role.

Eventually, as to be expected, the demon is returned to her container and is sealed up for another 1,400 years.

Forrest Ackerman makes brief surprise appearances as an ailing grandfather who imparts sage wisdom. By far, the star of the show.

In one particularly memorable scene during a dream sequence, the Nazarene is portrayed as a vampire with bared fangs when one of the characters petitions him for mercy from damnation. It is interesting to note that the Nazarene actually does resemble a vampire-leech in the sense of the blood fetishism as a resplendent theme in the nazarene cult - the drinking of blood, consuming of flesh, life after death {immortality}, the propensity of his zombie-like followers to transform everyone they meet into clonish versions of themselves, etc.

This film manages to portray the J/C God and kryst as petty, jealous, mercurial, and selfish, punishing one of their own by abandonment and excommunication, for such a thoughtful, adoring, complimentary desire. The ingratitude of it.

The prosthetics were good, but the film could have used a dose of CGI, to accentuate some of those more dramatic moments.

Overall, in a relative vain of Ghoulies, Ceremony manages to create a "B-movie" flare on a relatively condensed budget, although this series has the wonderful possibility to release an improved part 2 which can bring a new dimension to the plot - one of few films who can boast a superior sequel.

This underground film will be enjoyed by collectors of rare demonic sinematic memorabilia, and FX aficionados. Recommended party fair intended for amusement and comedic purposes.