recommended

Good concept, poorly executed.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Dr. Alice Dodgson (Jennifer Grey) gets her medical license revoked after the death of one patient. She's facing the possibility of not get any job when she accepts to be the nurse for one young man who suffers of encephalitis called Wesley Claybourne (Daniel Lapaine).The story is that those involved removed references to "Tales From the Crypt" after their second movie bombed. This was probably a wise idea, although the same sensibility and tone is obvious in this picture.I loved seeing Jennifer Grey in a leading role, and appreciated that they tried to update "I Walked With a Zombie". Not sure they actually succeeded, though. Despite a good cast and some decent scares and kills, I just did not find myself all that interested in this one.

This is the last chapter of Tales from the Crypt. There are two ways to watch this movie: You can watch it as a simple horror movie or you can watch as a Tales from the Crypt episode. If you watch it as a single movie you will find it empty, completely empty: No gore, No sex, No black humor and no explicit crimes. And if you watch it as a Tales from the Crypt episode you will find that this is an absurd, poor and empty chapter "based" on the series.I think the beginning was good and interesting, when you see the amazing island of Jamaica and its traditions and culture. But then after a few killings the movie gets boring and then more and more boring, in the end you realize that you are watching something like a fairy tale. As a Tales from the Crypt fan I really expected more from this movie, but I just got disappointed because of its poor content, as I said before the only thing that I enjoyed from this movie was the beautiful Jamaica.There isn't anyway to describe the painful intervention of the Cryptkeeper, even the voice of John Kassir wasn't as good as it was in the series. The puppet of the Cryptkeeper looked more animated in the series than in this movie. It's a shame because the series was released in the 90's and was better made than this movie that was made in 2001.

New York City Dr.Alice Dodgson (Jennifer Gray) finds herself a job after losing her patient and her medical license for two years. She travels to Jamaica, where her doctor license isn't needed. She's hired by a wealthy American (Craig Sheffer) to check on his younger brother (Daniel Lapaine), who's thinks he's a zombie. Alice quickly realized, there's an virus spreading in Jamaica and she also finds herself in the exotic rhythm of this foreign place. But since there's mysterious murders are happening in the middle, Alice has to uncover the truth and save her patient before it's too late.Directed by Avi Nesher (Doppelganger:The Evil Within) made an enjoyable horror film has some suspense, humour and an unexpected plot twist at the end. This third and probably last feature from the HBO Series "Tales from the Crypt". Which executive producers:Richard Donner, David Giler, Walter Hill, Joel Silver and Oscar-Winner:Robert Zemeckis were involved in this movie. Like they did on the HBO Series and two previous features from Universal. This was made for theaters but it got shelved for five years... finally released to DVD! DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and an good Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD has no special features. This movie is actually an remake from the RKO Radio Pictures titled "I Walked With A Zombie". It's also the first film that "The Crypt Keeper" doesn't appear near the closing credits. Grey and especially Kristen Wilson looks great in it. "Ritual" is a modest horror film and it is the most coherent of the three "Tales from the Crypt" movies. Horror fans will certainly enjoy it. Nesher co-wrote the screenplay along with Rob Cohen (The Mummy:Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Dragon:The Bruce Lee Story, The Fast & The Furious). (*** 1/2 out of *****).

This film was meant to be the third & final film in the Tales From The Crypt movie trilogy. Why it wasn't made official? None of us may ever know. In my opinion though it definately had the Tales From The Crypt feel to it. It had all the right elements & I had a great time watching it. As with all Tales movies & episodes don't watch it expecting to get the crap scared out of you, expect some good ole fun. The main element missing that would've made this a complete Tales movie however is The Cryptkeeper. If you're a fan of Tales From The Crypt, you like zombie/voodoo films like The Serpent & The Rainbow, or you like horror in general then I definately recommend giving this film a look. That is if you can find it.