''Rites of Passage'' is a 2012 American

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

written and directed by W. Peter Iliff. The film stars

Wes Bentley Wesley Cook Bentley is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Ricky Fitts in '' American Beauty'' (1999), which earned him a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Supporting Actor; Seneca Crane in ''The Hunger Games'' (2012); Doyle i ...

Kate Maberly Kate Elizabeth Cameron Maberly (; born 14 March 1982) is an English actress, director, writer, producer, and musician. She has appeared in film, television, radio and theatre. Early life Maberly was born in Reigate, Surrey, England. She is t ...

Ryan Donowho Ryan Wayne Donowho (born September 20, 1980) is an American actor and musician. Early life Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Donowho appeared as an uncredited extra in "Varsity Blues (film)", a film shot in his home state of Texas. Donowho mov ...

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut with a leading role in ''The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakthrough role as Jason "J.D." D ...

and

Stephen Dorff Stephen Hartley Dorff Jr. (born July 29, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Roland West in the third season of HBO's crime drama anthology series ''True Detective'', PK in '' The Power of One'', Stuart Sutcliffe in ''Backbe ...

Plot

Nathan (

), a studious anthropology student, decries his position in a society that fails to provide a ceremony to mark his transition into manhood. Professor Nash (

), an unethical teacher who openly pursues sexual liaisons with his female students, is intrigued when Nathan tells him his family's unoccupied but functional ranch is the site of an ancient Indian burial ground. Nathan convinces Professor Nash to bring the class out to the ranch, where the plan is to hold a spiritual ceremony in a sweat lodge built over the burial site. Encouraged by Nash's enthusiastic agreement to the idea, Nathan guides his stressed, party-going classmates to the ranch. There they meet his brother, Benny (

), who is in a psychotic spiral of drug addiction and guilt. A

crystal meth Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphe ...

cook at the ranch, Delgado (

), a man with a grudge who has an uneasy friendship with the brother, kills two of the students after he and the brother are insulted. Delgado then begins hunting the rest of the group. During his rampage, Delgado hallucinates that a stuffed

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

named Pancho that clings to his

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

talks and makes futile attempts to reason with his apparently absent sense of morality.

Cast

as Benny *

as Dani *

as Nathan *

as Delgado *

as Professor Nash *

Briana Evigan Briana Barbara-Jane Evigan is an American actress and dancer best known for her roles in the ''Step Up'' series and for her scream queen roles in numerous horror films. Born in Los Angeles, Evigan is the daughter of actor Greg Evigan and his ...

as Penelope *

Travis Van Winkle Travis Scott Van Winkle (born November 4, 1982) is an American actor, best known for starring in the feature film ''Accepted'' (2006) and the 2021 third season of the Netflix streaming television series ''You'', portraying Trent Sutton-DeMarco i ...

as Hart *

Carly Schroeder Carly Brook Schroeder (born October 18, 1990) is an American actress and U.S. Army officer. She is best known for playing Serena Baldwin, the daughter of Scotty Baldwin and Lucy Coe in the ''General Hospital'' spin-off ''Port Charles''. She ...

as Carly *

Ashley Hinshaw Ashley Grace (née Hinshaw; born December 11, 1988) is an American actress and model. She is known for her leading role in the 2012 film ''About Cherry'', and for her role in the 2016 Crackle television series '' StartUp''. Early life Ashley ...

as Sandee *

Guy Burnet Guy Burnet (born 8 August 1983) is a British theatre, film and television actor. Early life Burnet was born in London, England. He attended Holland Park School where his interest in drama first developed, taking an A level in the subject. Bef ...

as Mojo

Release

The film was released straight-to-DVD on October 16, 2012. The trailer for the film was released on late 2011, and can be viewed on the official ''Rites of Passage'' website,

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page, and

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. The film premiered at the Isla Vista Theatre in

Isla Vista Isla Vista is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Barbara County, California in the United States. As of 2020 census, the community had a population of 15,500. The majority of residents are college students at t ...

, Calif. The audience responded enthusiastically, except for about a half dozen Native American activists who appeared at the showing to protest. During the subsequent Q&A, the activists accused the film of being racist, exploitative, a mockery of Chumash rituals, and "cultural prostitution." However, actor Mylo IronBear, a Native American spirit warrior of the Spirit Lake Tribe, who appears as a Chumash in the film, disagreed with the activists. "I am standing behind this film because it’s a film,” IronBear said, adding that Iliff was entitled to his artistic interpretation. A member of the Chumash tribe stood up after the activists were removed by police and apologized for their behavior, indicating that they did not represent the Chumash Nation. The Chumash jimsonweed ceremony portrayed in the film was accurately represented according to anthropologist J.P. Harrington's extensive field notes from Chumash informants in the early 1900s.

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, rites_of_passage_2011 2012 films American independent films American thriller films 2012 thriller films Voltage Pictures films Films scored by Elia Cmíral 2012 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films