Panic Fest 2026 Coverage
Lily’s Ritual review
Which witch is which?
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
Lily’s Ritual
Directed by Manu Herrera
Screenplay by Manu Herrera
Starring Maggie Garcia, Patricia Penalver, Eve Ryan, Elena Gallardo, Mike Fajardo
Lily’s Ritual Review
Witch movies have never really been my thing. At least, not movies that focus on witchcraft. When it’s a part of a story I found more compelling (say…Hereditary, The Blair Witch Project and, unironically, The Witch) it can work much better for me. But stories about witches and covens and black magic…they’ve just never really captured my attention. When I hear the synopsis of a movie like Lily’s Ritual I tend to bristle. Four friends head to a cabin in the woods to perform a ritual. It doesn’t sound like my cup of tea. After watching Lily’s Ritual…I’m happy to say that I was wrong.
That doesn’t come without a qualifier of sorts. Lily’s Ritual threatened to lose me a few times before it truly got going. The slow burn nature that accompanies many movies about witches and magic is part of the reason I avoid them. Lily’s Ritual slow burns for a while. A long while if we’re being honest. But then it ignites. The climax here is so good that it performs a magic trick of its own. It made me forget that I had been checking to see how much time is left as it slowly built to where it was heading.
The story is pretty basic. Four young women head to a cabin to initiate one of them into their coven (or whatever). Lily (Maggie Garcia) is the new recruit. She represents “Air” in their bond of elemental forces. It takes half the movie to get to that. Thankfully, Lily’s Ritual has some really fun plans for the second half of its story. Brutal, gory plans.
The ritual that the other three girls intend to perform isn’t exactly what Lily had been led to believe. They intend to sacrifice her to a demon named Lilith. That doesn’t go as planned either. The back half of Lily’s Ritual cranks things up several notches from what comes before it. That speaks to both how fun the movie eventually becomes…and how long it feels like it takes to get there. You have to put up with a bit of tedium to get to the good stuff. But the good stuff is well worth getting to.
Lily’s Ritual features some gnarly practical effects. There’s some brutal and unexpected violence thrown at the girls once everything goes off the rails. It’s a lot of fun to watch. Normally, you’d look back at the set-up a story does and realize that it was important in the long run. While it may have dragged a bit…the payoff was better for it. I don’t really think that is the case with Lily’s Ritual. It often felt like the movie itself was just waiting around for something to happen. Yes, we get to know the characters and that’s never a bad idea. But the climax of the story doesn’t rely on you knowing much about them…just that bloody vengeance is knocking on their door.
You need to know that Lily is being set-up and that the trio of witches doing so deserve what’s coming. But that can be explained more quickly and efficiently than happens here. Maybe the night and day nature of the movie before and after it changes helps the better half stand out. But I can’t help but think a shorter, snappier first half would have better served the film. It delivers so well in the second half…a fun first half would have resulted in a full on banger of a movie. As it stands, Lily’s Ritual is still quite good.
Scare Value
Buoyed by a great destination…provided you can make it through the long trip to get there…Lily’s Ritual offers some genuinely twisted witchy fun. It’s a tale of two halves…but the fantastic second half makes up for some lag in the first. Lily’s Ritual ends up being a blast with visceral thrills and earned vengeance. Practical effects are on point. The cast does a fine job. It’s a quality production. It just could have used a little more pep in its first step.
