Wes Bentley

Kate Maberly

Ryan Donowho

Travis Van Winkle

Briana Evigan

Christian Slater

Stephen Dorff

Carly Schroeder

Ashley Grace

Guy Burnet

Daniel Cudmore

Angelic Zambrana

Sharon Hinnendael

Mercedes Leggett

Nicholas Leiting

Alexi Yulish

Mylo Ironbear

Joseph Billingiere

Joseph Runningfox

Jennifer Bobiwash

Cristina Mendoza Lopez

Rita Rangel Monahan

Anastasia Patchick

Naydah Vasquez

Chuy Garcia

John Saint John

Andrés Salazar

Alex Najar

James Neary

Andy Garza

Ralph Lopez

Nick Fouquet

Richard Johnson

Cal Oshi

Mark Madnick

Clayton C.J.  Boyer

Greg Cooper

William D. Johnson

W. Peter Iliff

Mark Canton

Doug Econn

Brett Kerr

Elia Cmiral

Alex Nepomniaschy

Shannon Makhanian

Laura Galli

Jeffrey Lombardi

Stephanie Bravo

Anthony Cafaro

Vince Renaud

Steven Iba

Richard Kitting

Jonathan Wales

Jay Nierenberg

Aaron McLane

Tom Elliott

Mike Smith

Joseph Arena

Sergio De Luca

Jimmy Callian

Ryan Wilmott

Stewart McAlpine

Suzanne Waite

Glenn Garland

Rick Halsey

Gerald Chamales

Scott Metcalfe

David Hopwood

Jonathan Sachar

Ty Arnold

Brent Clark

Aaron Wohlberg

Andre Canaparo

Alfred S. Newman

Lance Gilbert

Logan Holladay

Cain Smead

Kevin Derr

Kanan Hooker

Alina Andrei

Matthew Taylor

Joe Fineman

Michael Toji

Sven Tusak

Sarah Bess

Peter Dang

Robert J. Mitchell

John Paul Meyer

Nito Serna

Mark Young

Tom Funk

Jason Alegre

Carlos Aldana

Steve Mason

Jeff Nolde

Francesco Sauta

Gavin White

Ben Bernard

Steven A. Finly

Ryan Wilmatt

Robin Blatt

David Schneiderman

Cat Gray

Nicole Andersen

Abbie Nissenson

Chris Riel

Barbara Friedman

Paul S. Power

Ingrid Alexander

Elizabeth A. Bergman

Cooper Donaldson

Gregory Pickard

Jonathan Ward

Juan Carlos Amaya

Jason Brewer

Alexandre Dumas

Chris Fraser

Augustine Gonzalez

David Thomas Graves

Win Jones

Justin Lipetz

Michael Noetzel

Shermagne Umali

Paul Vertesekha

Michael A. Viera III

Thriller

Rites of Passage

Atmosphere Entertainment MM

Demarest Films

Morningstar Films

Party Killer Films

Voltage Pictures

Demarest Media

United States of America

Portugal

**_When college partiers in SoCal experiment with Chumash drug rites_**

A ‘hip’ anthropology professor (Stephen Dorff) and his party-obsessed students spend the weekend at a mostly unoccupied ranch on the Pacific shore to take part in a Chumash jimsonweed ceremony. Unfortunately for them, the drug-addled brother of one of the students (Wes Bentley) lives on the ranch and wants a fantasy Chumash wife. Worse, there’s a psychotic crystal meth cook lurking nearby (Christian Slater).

“Rites of Passage” (2012) is a dynamic cabin-in-the-woods flick written & directed by one of the scriptwriters of “Point Break" from 21 years earlier. The ‘cabin’ in this case just happens to be a house on the coast of California on a vacant greenhouse farm in the Santa Barbara area. The production cost $2.5 million, which is certainly enough to make a competent movie of this sort. 

Briana Evigan stands out on the female front as Penelope. Most of the rest of the ladies are attractive, but they could all stand to eat cheeseburgers for a week or two, if you know what I mean. For those who know Kate Maberly (Dani) from the outstanding “Secret Garden” (1993), it’s interesting to see her as an adult.

If you can handle the hedonistic spirit, the first half is compelling and amusing. For instance, one of the blondes is a Christian, which of course conflicts with the libertinism of the others. There’s also an entertaining sock monkey that seems to talk. Elsewhere, both Bentley and Slater are effective in their off-kilter roles, but the energetic second half loses its mojo along with the viewer’s attention. It needed tightened-up by editing out at least 12 minutes.  

The movie runs 1 hour, 42 minutes, and was shot in November, 2010, by the coast in Santa Barbara, California.

GRADE: B-/C+

English

Rites Of Passage Official Trailer #1 (2012) - Wes Bentley, Christian Slater Movie HD