‘The Ceremony is About to Begin’ Review: A Creepy Found Footage Movie with a Wild Ending
The ending is good fun, but is it worth the wait?
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What is The Ceremony is About to Begin About?
The Ceremony is About to Begin is a low-budget pseudo-documentary with a setup that feels a lot like Creep (2014), but with an Egyptian cult theme.
Keith is a filmmaker who is ostensibly working on a documentary about the Osiris Collective, a cult that was taken over a few years ago by a man who calls himself Anubis. However, Keith’s main goal in making the film seems to be finding out what happened to his ex-girlfriend who joined the cult and cut off nearly all communication. Keith receives an invitation to document the Osiris Collective and show the world what they are really like, but when he arrives, Keith finds that the only person in the commune is Anubis. Despite the weirdness of the situation, Keith stays in the commune, falling further into the cult leader’s grasp.
The Ceremony is About to Begin Review
It’s been said by other reviewers—and I’ve already said it once in this article—but it bears repeating: The Ceremony is About to Begin gives strong Creep vibes. Unfortunately, this movie never matches the heights of absurdity and tension found in Creep.
To be fair, it’s entirely possible that the similarity between the two movies is coincidental. If you’re making a found-footage movie with a videographer and an eccentric guy who is being interviewed, the dynamics of that relationship are likely going to feel similar regardless of the context. Also, it’s not really fair or interesting to constantly compare a movie with something that has turned into its own franchise like Creep. So, this is the last time in this review I’ll mention it. Just know that the comparisons are accurate, at least for the first two-thirds of the movie.
What really sets The Ceremony is About to Begin apart is the final twenty minutes. It’s not a spoiler to say that this final section of the movie deals with a ceremony (after all, it’s announced in the title). We also get to see the results of the ceremony, but I won’t say what it involves. The only thing that can be said is that it’s pretty wild, and it turns the film completely around into something very different from any comparisons to other previously mentioned movies. The finale can be rather goofy on the surface, but the disturbing nature of what is happening might be unsettling for some viewers. Any way you look at it, silly or scary, the ending is well done.
The trouble is, getting to the ending is tedious. The movie begins as a straightforward pseudo-documentary about the cult of the Osiris Collective. There are interviews from former members, and the basic backstory for Anubis is covered in a sequence of methodical exposition. It’s fine, but it touches on a similar complaint I had regarding the beginning of Late Night With the Devil in that a documentary-style opening can often feel too much like an exposition dump. It also might give away a lot of information that would be more interesting to see come out naturally during the normal course of action.
The bulk of the movie, however, is presented in a found-footage style with Keith getting to know Anubis through a short series of interviews. Anubis is suitably odd, and his non-committal answers combined with repeated attempts to get Keith to drink with him point directly towards something sinister. It’s all very clear, but it doesn’t give us a lot more information than we already suspected based on the documentary section. Keith’s character is developed a bit more, but some of the decisions he makes are bizarre given the obvious danger of the situation. It all just feels strange (in a less-than-interesting way) and drawn-out.
The Ceremony is About to Begin Rating and Recommendation
Star Rating: 2 out of 5
The ending of The Ceremony is About to Begin is a lot of fun, but the buildup to it might be a chore for viewers who aren’t die-hard fans of the found-footage format.
Further Reading
- Dagr Review: There’s a Lot to Like About this Found Footage Chiller
- Bystanders Review: A Unique Twist on Revenge
- Frogman Review: A Gloriously Fun Found Footage Creature Feature
- Best Movies About Cults
- Best Mummy Movies
- New/Upcoming Horror Movies
- Best and Worst Horror Movies of 2025
