Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Executscan Expected more

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Neil Welch A professor takes his class on a field trip to experiment with Chumash Indian drug-taking. When they get there, two demented brothers apply their serial killing skills to the group.There is some established talent here - Christian Slater, Wes Bentley, Stephen Dorff on screen, and the writer of Point Break scripting and behind the camera. It is with him that the blame lies, because a film which is, perhaps, hoping to be a bit clever (Slater has delirious dialogues with an animated sock. It's that kind of movie) is, in fact, stuffed with clichés while being semi-incoherent. Bentley's character wanders around in quasi-autistic isolation while Slater is even more wildly over the top than usual. And they are the established talent - imagine what we get from the unknowns. For a slasher, there is very little blood and, for a teen sex movie, well, there isn't any.The story as to how this film got made is many, many times more interesting than the film itself which is, frankly, downright poor. It is, however, very nicely lit and photographed. It is interesting to note that the reviews on IMDb break down broadly into two groups - those who are students at the university featured, live in and around the area where it was filmed, and attended the premiere, who all think it was pretty good, and everyone else, who don't. I'm one of everyone else. I don't think it was pretty good.

Keith Saito While most of these reviewers are critiquing Rites of Passage as a possible award winning film, I will review it from the point of view of a casual movie watcher. I enjoyed watching this film because it was fast paced and kept my attention the whole time. I also liked the fact that it was filmed entirely in Isla Vista. I grew up in the area so it is cool to see a movie that was filmed there. The movie is marketed towards the college audience with its main themes of sex, drugs, and partying. Though some people may say that the movie is demeaning to native American women, I think that it made the movie more interesting. Movie directors put their own twist on historical events and shouldn't be critiqued because of it. I am Asian American and there have been plenty of demeaning movies about Asian culture but I have no problem with it. This is the kind of movie that should be watched for pure entertainment without any preconception of native American culture. It is one of those movies that you invite some friends over to watch while eating some popcorn. Overall, I enjoyed the movie but I couldn't fully relate because I have never taken any psychedelic drugs. The whole movie revolves around the characters in paranoia and can be related by people who have taken similar drugs.

frankie-hugo Rites passage is a low budget film directed by a screen writer and filmed on single camera on location in a small Californian beach town. Considering the budget and limited man power the movie depicts modern college students in the correct way, especially those from the infamous Isla Vista party scene. For having a few big and upcoming names involved in this feature the acting was a little sub-par. All in all the plot quickened quite fast and I personally hoped it would have been slightly more drawn out. I found it not as bad as many of the other reviewers described, although I took into consideration the budget and limitations etc.

Madison Martin This film is by no means an amazing film. However, it was pretty funny and I left the theater ultimately satisfied. This film was made in Santa Barbara which is my home now and it was cool to watch this movie knowing that aspect. It was a cheesy popcorn thriller but if you watch it knowing that, you will be pleasantly impressed. Overall I did enjoy this film. I can't say it was my favorite movie but definitely worth seeing at least once. It was definitely a breath of fresh air having the comedy mixed with the thriller. I did happen to see the premier of this movie and it made my experience a little more exciting. The directors and some of the actors stayed after for a Q and A, which made me enjoy the movie a little more because you got to sense their passion and how much they enjoyed making the film. This gave me a lighter opinion of the film.