I’ve always liked a good voodoo movie, and that was fortunate last year with the release of “The Skeleton Key.” I also like a cheesy voodoo movie as well, which helped in watching “Venom.” Dimension Films keeps releasing that cheesy voodoo that they do with the lost horror film “Ritual.”

This movie was originally made in 2001 and hasn’t seen any play in American until now on DVD. (It was, however, released in the Philippines, Norway, Finland and Spain, according to IMDb.) Now, it’s been brought back out of the vault, with a special introduction by the Crypt Keeper from HBO’s “Tales from the Crypt.” I’m not exactly sure what turn of events put this film in the Crypt Keeper’s clutches, but they don’t seem to have been together for long.

The Crypt Keeper opens the show in a sea of bikini eye candy. The puppetry is really crude for this incarnation, looking like they dusted off the animatronic character and found about half of the movie parts not working quite right. However, having such a low-rent Crypt Keeper intro set the stage for what would become a cheesy film for the modern era.

“Ritual” stars a mighty fine-looking Jennifer Grey as Dr. Alice Dodgson, an American doctor who loses her license in the states. She’s left to practice medicine in Jamaica, where she is hired to care for a wealthy young man. While she’s down there, she uncovers a plot using voodoo, zombies and possession to seize the land of the sick man.

This movie is actually a remake of the cheesy classic “I Walked with a Zombie” from RKO pictures and originally written by horror/sci-fi screenwriting maven Curt Siodmak. Keeping this in mind will help temper the taste of “Ritual.” I kept reminding myself that this is a remake of a cheesy movie, and that makes the modern cheesiness easier to swallow.

Ultimately, for a DVD horror flick, “Ritual” ain’t all that bad. It’s got some nice scares and some creepy voodoo scenes. The characters and plot are a little rocky, but nothing beyond what you might expect from a direct-to-DVD release from Dimension Films.

There are some nice consolations in this film. First, Jennifer Grey still looks mighty hot after her “Dirty Dancing” days. Even after the nose job and several more years on her odometer, Grey is nice to look at. It’s too bad she had her face cut, losing her unique screen appeal. I would have loved to see what would have become of her otherwise.

Also, Kristen Wilson, whom many might recognize from the “Dr. Dolittle” movies with Eddie Murphy, plays a great sexy island vixen. And Tim Curry is pretty fun to watch as the cheeky, sinister Matthew Hope.

Void of DVD features, “Ritual” has to stand on its own, which makes it shaky at best.



Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Widescreen (1.85:1) – Enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Spanish subtitles. English subtitles for the hearing impaired.