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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Admirable film.

The acting in this movie is really good.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Following a kidnapping-gone-wrong, a group of thieves stumble upon a young woman intended to be sacrificed to a deadly creature as part of a ritualistic tradition and get caught up in the fight to survive against the being.On the whole this one was a pretty disappointing if still overall enjoyable effort. Among the better efforts here is the fact that this one manages to really let loose and get enjoyable during its second half by featuring some enjoyable elements here from its' turn-over into more of a slasher film which requires this one to let loose with the best aspects here quite nicely. The main location itself is well utilized as the abandoned school is given a great, grungy look that reeks of disuse and disrepair that always works in these kinds of films, gives off plenty of tight, cramped rooms and endless corridors perfect for stalking and ambushing and really makes for quite an enjoyable time here with these forming the best part of the film with the endless chases, stalking and attacks that come of being there. As well, the main facet of what works here is the killer itself, which looks creepy and cool with the flesh-mask and scarf wrapped up around up it's lower half of the head but the weapon allows for plenty of graphic kills, it's main stalking tactic of appearing off in the distance behind the unsuspecting victim and then galloping at full-steam towards them to deliver a strike without let-up is insanely original and provides this with tons of suspense while also giving him a rather disturbing air about him due to the rather chilling ceremony that must be enacted to appease him that comes about providing this with plenty of solid, enjoyable times here. That this all comes in the later half means the first half is where the problems are, and it starts with the kidnapping ploy here that really serves no purpose other than to give the creature more of a body-count by slashing his way through the gang regardless of their motives. This is agonizingly slow, doesn't really offer much value to anything here and comes off incredibly confusing by intertwining the group pulling off their getaway with the preparations of the first girls for the ceremony to be taken place that later intermingles the two stories. This is entirely hamfisted and cliché how this goes about mixing the two together as well and simply serves to make the story even more lame with all the confusion offered here. These hold it down while the other efforts make it watchable.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Full Nudity and children- in-jeopardy.

The plot: Kidnappers run into trouble when their story collides with another story straight from a direct-to-video 1980s slasher.Rites of Spring was assembled from scenes of several mediocre films and combined into one terrible whole. I don't understand why anyone thought it would be a good idea to plagiarize a bunch of mediocre slashers and then throw in an out-of-place, unresolved kidnapping subplot straight out of Ransom. The result was even worse than it sounds.If you're sick and tired of retreads, clichés, and "homage", then I suggest you avoid this film. There is absolutely nothing original in it at all. Even the kills are boring. Like most cheap slasher villains, this one has a shtick: he carries a scythe and likes to behead people. He has something to do with a demonic pact made by the inhabitants of a Midwestern town, but that's the extent of his back story. Overall, I found him to be without charisma or presence. Some of the scenes have a tense atmosphere, but the formulaic and predictable writing ruins everything. When you know who's going to survive, how and when each of them is going to die, and when each jump scare is coming, there isn't much point to watching.I like AJ Bowen and Anessa Ramsey, and it was exciting to see them together again, but this is not the film to watch if you're a fan of The Signal. Instead, I would recommend it to undiscerning fans of old-school slashers. If all you need are a few recognizable B actors, an unstoppable monster who's inexplicably stopped after 90 minutes of screaming and running, and a bit of violence toward women, then this is probably going to be watchable. However, I'd suggest you skip it and watch something better, like Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. Hell, you'd even be better off watching one of the Children of the Corn sequels, which at least have some degree of campy appeal.

Opening inter-titles: high school senior young women go missing, year after year, since 1984. The film has already jumped the shark. That sort of thing would have been stopped in well under 30 years.Alyssa and Rachel leave a bar late at night. Rachel is conflicted about having made a mistake at work. Alyssa tells her to let someone else take the fall for it. Their car starts, eventually, but they immediately get a flat. Then they get abducted, taken to a barn, and strung up by their wrists by The Stranger. The Stranger does whatever the monster in the cellar needs.In a parallel thread, Ben and Paul kidnap Kelly, the daughter of Ryan, the principal employer in the area, and Jessica, Kelly's nanny. They demand 2 million USD in 2 hours. The kidnapping rolls forward on schedule, more or less. Tommy picks up the money, but he also picks up Kelly's father Ryan.Rachel gets free, then tries to help Alyssa, who is already dead by decapitation. Rachel escapes and runs; she goes to the place where the kidnappers are. The two plot threads come together.Ryan has Jessica freed, but Jessica is in league with Paul. Jessica shoots Ryan, and Paul informs the rest of them that he and Jessica are taking the 2 million. Then he kills Tommy. Ben and Amy are left defenseless against these two.Meanwhile, Rachel and the monstrous killer are racing toward the kidnappers. No one listens to her, of course. The monster decapitates Jessica. In the middle of all this, young Kelly breaks free and escapes.Ben has an opportunity to end all this by killing Paul, but of course he does not have the courage. Paul takes Rachel hostage and leaves. Rachel keeps insisting they have to clear out. The monster kills Paul, and takes another head.Ben, Amy, Rachel, and the monster are left. Ben and Amy go looking for a telephone, only to find the house of The Stranger. Amy's probably out of luck, but when The Stranger starts to carve up Ben, Rachel hammers The Stranger. The find Amy strung up on a cross, but the monster kills her. Ben throws Rachel his keys, then the monster does in Ben. Amy finds the car, travels down the road a bit, seems to find some help, but the one who could have aided her turns out the lights.-----Scores-----Cinematography: 0/10 Camera shake. Way out of focus intervals. I liked the 2.35 aspect ratio, which sometimes means that excellent cinematography is on the way. Not here, not at all. More camera shake. Amateurish framing mistakes, inside-outside light level mistakes, ridiculous fades to totally out of focus blurs on the entire screen.Sound: 7/10 Best part of the film.Acting: 4/10 OK, given the script.Screenplay: 0/10 Corn plants that are 7 or 8 feet tall, with full ears, on March 21? Perhaps not. New abductions every year for close to thirty years with no solution? I don't think so. The monster had minutes of opportunity to do in Rachel. He usually killed his victims in one strike. What was the weird nest in the cellar? Not answered. Was this a crime movie? Not a very good one. Was it a horror movie? Not a convincing one or a scary one.

Two girls are kidnapped in the parking lot of a bar by unknown assailants. They are taken to a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere and strung up as sacrifice to a local deity that comes out in the spring. One escapes, stumbling onto a group of kidnappers right in the middle of a ransom plot gone wrong, and about to be made worse when a large, ugly beast out of a Party City costume log comes after them. "Rites of Spring" is your definitive mediocre, boring slasher trying to be an homage to classic seventies horror. It's not bad, and those that say it is bad clearly haven't ever seen the films this is trying to remake. No horror slasher is good. Some are simply more exciting than others. This is not one of those films. Our heroes are nonplussed actors who are not very good at what they do. But they represent the film in that they are not bad. Perhaps it is because the script has about as much life as a decorative plastic rock made to cover up blemishes in one's lawn. It's not ever particularly interesting. But it's not bad. "Rites of Spring" is not a bad film. But it's not a good one.