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

Mark Canton

W. Peter Iliff

Doug Econn

Elia Cmiral

Brett Kerr

Alex Nepomniaschy

Shannon Makhanian

Laura Galli

Jay Nierenberg

Joseph Arena

Vince Renaud

Jimmy Callian

Suzanne Waite

Stephanie Bravo

Mike Smith

Jonathan Wales

Sergio De Luca

Jeffrey Lombardi

Steven Iba

Anthony Cafaro

Stewart McAlpine

Ryan Wilmott

Tom Elliott

Aaron McLane

Richard Kitting

Glenn Garland

Gerald Chamales

Scott Metcalfe

Rick Halsey

David Hopwood

Jonathan Sachar

Logan Holladay

Ty Arnold

Lance Gilbert

Cain Smead

Brent Clark

Kevin Derr

Alfred S. Newman

Andre Canaparo

Aaron Wohlberg

Kanan Hooker

Nito Serna

Peter Dang

Mark Young

Jason Alegre

Sven Tusak

Tom Funk

Carlos Aldana

Alina Andrei

Francesco Sauta

Jeff Nolde

Matthew Taylor

Robert J. Mitchell

Joe Fineman

Sarah Bess

John Paul Meyer

Win Jones

Gregory Pickard

Steve Mason

Gavin White

Michael Toji

Nicole Andersen

Abbie Nissenson

David Schneiderman

Jason Brewer

Alexandre Dumas

Augustine Gonzalez

Brad Wilhite

Steven A. Finly

Cat Gray

Zach Harrison

Seth Naugle

Elizabeth A. Bergman

Chris Fraser

Robin Blatt

Graham Bremner

Michael A. Viera III

Craig Riley Jr.

Barbara Friedman

Ingrid Alexander

Cooper Donaldson

Jonathan Ward

David Thomas Graves

Paul Vertesekha

Ben Bernard

Ryan Wilmatt

Justin Lipetz

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