A Spanish/Italian co-production directed by the late Riccardo Freda (of Iguana With The Tongue Of Fire fame) under the alias of Robert Hampton and co-written by Mario Bianchi (of Satan's Baby Doll!), 1972's Tragic Ceremony is a strange mix of the gothic horror, devil worship and killer hippy genres done with a uniquely European style.

When the film begins, Jane (Camille Keaton) and her three male buddies - Joe (Maximo Valde), Fred (Giovanni Petrucci), Bill (Tony Isbert) - are cruising around on a sail boat. They get off the boat and start cruising around in wealthy boy Bill's dune buggy and camp down for the night. The next day they run out of gas though a quirky gas station attendant begrudgingly gives them enough to get them to town, or so he says. Soon enough, during the middle of a nasty storm, they run out of gas again. This time they take refuge in a creepy old home, happy to take advantage of the hospitality offered them by the owners of the home, Lord and Lady Alexander (Luigi Pistilli and Luciana Paluzzi).

Later that night, Lady Alexander starts to show a strange affection for Jane. Her three friends begin to grow concerned when they don't hear from her for a few hours and they decide to explore the home. It doesn't take long for them to discover that there's actually a cult of devil worshippers in the basement and that they intend to use Jane as a sacrifice to their dark god! The three guys rescue Jane but in the process it all hits the fan and they soon realize that something very sinister is afoot - something more than just a bunch of weird old people in black cloaks and bad make up.

Though it takes a good twenty minutes or so to start moving, once the guys interrupt the titular ceremony, the film gets.... weird. Really weird. Sub plots that initially appear to be important, such as Bill's problems with his philandering mother and absentee father or the real identity of the odd gas station attendant, are thrown out the window in favor of some strange set pieces and a couple of admittedly cool but rather nonsensical shock scenes.

The film attempts to tie itself in to the Tate-La Bianca murders that took place only three years before the film was made in 1969, even going so far as to directly reference them in a news report that our four protagonists see on television. That said, while it's all well and good to reference current events, Tragic Ceremony doesn't go any further or make any sort of statement about any of it - the film simply uses the reference in a silly attempt to unnerve the audience.

The cast are all quite competent, with Keaton playing Jane with an effective doe-eyed sense of naiveté that contradicts some of her characters actions but which at least lets us sympathize with her during a couple of key scenes. The instantly recognizable Luigi Pistilli and matronly but strangely compelling Luciana Paluzzi are well cast as the mysterious owners of the home while Isbert, Valverde and Petrucci all bring a very sideburn-intensive sense of seventies cool to their respective hipster parts.

As flawed as Tragic Ceremony is, however, it's hard not to have a good time with the picture if you're able to keep your expectations in check. This is Euro-Trash at its finest, it's dreamy and strange, it doesn't make much sense and it looks fantastic. The gore is unexpected and splashier than you'd likely expect and as a goofy horror/exploitation film (with nice production values!) the movie works quite well in spite of itself.