Black Magic Rites

A dreamy 98 minutes that are not in any way logically connected to one another, despite the fact that the same characters appear in the same or related places, mainly the castle and its rooms, catacombs, cellars and interiors with a nice mountain backdrop (Black Magic Rites was filmed at Castello Piccolomini in Italy). The burning of women, lesbian sex, a lot of zooming in on both the main and supporting characters’ eyes widened for no apparent reason. This is atmospheric, colorful nonsense in which everyone experiences an awful lot without the viewer having any idea why. Watching it all the way to the end deserves respect. And a stiff drink. (10/09/2022)

Oh, my goodness, this movie is bizarre. Black Magic Rites is not some rubbish low-budget trashy Italian B-movie as it may seem at first glance. It is, however, a completely weird, hard-to-grasp, psychedelic avant-garde movie that I stared at open-mouthed at times and which is very hard to evaluate in any way. In the environment of a packed cinema, it was a total blast that captivated the audience. [The Shockproof Film Festival 2022] (05/13/2022)

The fact that Black Magic Rites lacks clarity, with its plotline getting lost, can be a significant problem for some viewers who simply won't be interested in watching something like that. I must say that this time it didn't bother me, and I simply enjoyed what I saw. It's still erotically subtle, but the desire intriguingly bubbles up. (02/28/2015)