| Ritual | |
| Director: | Avi Nesher |
| Producer: | Richard Donner David Giler Walter Hill Ted Hartley |
| Screenplay: | Rob Cohen Avi Nasher |
| Story: | Inez Wallace |
| Starring: | Jennifer Grey Craig Sheffer Daniel Lapaine Kristen Wilson Gabriel Casseus Tim Curry |
| Music: | Shirley Walker |
| Cinematography: | David A. Armstrong Douglas Milsome |
| Editing: | Robert A. Ferretti Michael Schweitzer |
| Distributor: | RKO Pictures |
| Studio: | Dimension Films Silver Pictures |
| Runtime: | 99 minutes 106 minutes (DVD/Blu-ray) |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Ritual is a 2002 American comedy horror film. A remake of the 1943 film I Walked With a Zombie, it was released in select countries in 2002, the Philippines in 2003, and released direct-to-DVD in the US in 2006. It stars Tim Curry, Jennifer Grey, and Craig Sheffer with Avi Nesher directing. Subsequent home video releases added a newly filmed intro featuring the Crypt Keeper from Tales from the Crypt, though it was not produced as a Tales from the Crypt film.[1]
The film is set in Jamaica. In the film, a Jamaican girl has been excluded from her family' inheritance, and seeks revenge against her brother. She attempts to turn the brother's nurse into a zombie by use of voodoo, but the plan backfires when the nurse resists.
The Crypt Keeper is in Jamaica wearing his hair in "deadlocks". He states that one of his favorite things about Jamaica are the "eye-popping honeys", as it shows different bikini-clad women that are nearby. He then talks about how he just finished wrapping up his new movie in Jamaica. He introduces the movie and tells them "Don't worry, the beast is yet to come".
Dr. Alice Dodgson is fired from a hospital due to her involvement in the death of a patient. With few options, she decides to take a job as a nurse in Jamaica caring for Wesley Claybourne, a young man apparently suffering from encephalitis. Alice falls in love with Wesley, but she fears that she and Wesley are the targets of a voodoo cult.
She befriends Caro, a local girl. Caro advises Alice that any recrimination from the Voodoo community will only come as a result of her interference with their practices. Tension mounts as Alice suffers additional unexplained phenomena.
Caro is revealed as the cause of the strange goings-on; she is seeking revenge against Wesley because their father Paul killed Caro's mother and rejected Caro as his daughter, denying her an inheritance. Caro attempts to paralyze Alice and turn her into a zombie, but Alice is only partially paralyzed. Alice causes Caro's plan to backfire, and Caro is turned into a zombie instead.
Alice and Wesley abandon Jamaica and move back to the United States. The local Police Chief takes Caro into his home and puts her in his bed.
In a post-credit scene, bloopers from the Crypt Keeper's intro are shown.
Ritual was originally released for foreign countries in 2002. The film saw release in the Philippines on September 18, 2002, and was also released in Japan on January 25, 2006. It was not released in the United States until May 2, 2006, on DVD. It was later released on Blu-ray in the United States on December 4, 2012.