The Ritual (2017)

  • Directed by David Bruckner
  • Written by Joe Barton, Adam Neville
  • Stars Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier
  • Run Time: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes

Synopsis

A group of five friends argue about doing something fun on their vacation, and they settle on hiking. Luke and Robert go into a liquor store which is in the process of being robbed. The robbers kill Robert while Luke hides. Since it had been Robert’s idea to go hiking, the surviving four end up going on the trip to northern Sweden as a sort of memorial to him six months later. Credits roll.

Every time someone brings up the murder, Luke looks guilty, as if he should have tried something, done something. But he didn’t, which was completely reasonable at the time. Cue the urbanites trying to walk up a mountainside montage. At least until Dom twists his ankle, which is going to be a problem since they’re really far out. Hutch suggests cutting through the forest, which will cut their journey to the lodge in half.

Almost immediately, Hutch’s compass stops working. The woods get deeper and thicker. Suddenly, they find a ripped-open, still-bleeding stag hanging up in a tree. Could a bear have done that? It starts to rain, so they decide to pitch their tents, but as they prepare, they spot a strange rune carved into a tree. Not far away is a building. They break in for shelter from the rain, and they hear something outside.

They find some kind of witchcraft-effigy thing in the attic, which creeps them all out. That night, Luke dreams about the liquor store again, but he wakes up out in the woods with holes clawed in his chest. Hutch and Dom have also had a rough night, but they find Phil naked on his knees in front of the thing upstairs.

They find a path and set off through the woods again. They pass another creepy building but decide to press on. Dom can’t go on with his injury, so Luke goes on ahead to the high ridge, where he sees something big moving in the trees ahead. They all start arguing, and it turns out Dom does blame Luke for Robert’s death.

They find the ruins of a tent, including family photos and credit cards. What happened to those people? It gets dark again and they have to stop for the night. Something outside Luke’s tent roars and makes a lot of noise. He has another flashback and wakes up to hear Phil screaming. They hear Hutch screaming in the woods and the creature roaring– it definitely took him. When the sun rises, they find Hutch, stuck up in a tree just like the stag had been earlier.

They bury Hutch and move on. They decide that the creature followed them after that night in the weird house. They find some strange, round footprints in the mud, but easily decide not to follow them. They don’t see that the creature is following them far more closely than they imagine. Luke goes ahead and sees the edge of the forest, but the thing gets Phil right in front of Luke.

He finds Dom, hiding, and tells him they are going to have to run for it. One. Two. Three. And they run for it. The thing comes out of the trees right behind them but stops when they find torches lighting a path. They follow the lit-up path to another creepy house. They hear chanting, and someone knocks them out.

They wake up with their hands tied behind their backs. People are outside building something. The people come in and drag Dom outside, roughing him up in preparation for sacrifice. Luke is stuck inside listening to Dom’s screams and the roars of the monster. Later, they bring Dom back in, still alive but in shock. Dom tells Luke to burn the place to the ground and escape, since he knows he’s not getting out of this alive.

That evening, they come and take Dom outside and tie him to a pole. Meanwhile, Luke works on getting out of his ropes; he has to break his own thumb to do it. As the moon comes up, the creature comes for Dom. But to his shock and delight it’s his wife who tenderly puts her hands on his face. Until it shows its true form and hangs Dom in a tree like the others.

A woman comes in and explains to Luke that it’s the bastard son of Loki, and they worship it. She tells Luke that he will kneel before their god, or he will hang in a tree like the others.

Secretly out of his bonds, Luke sets the place on fire, grabs a shotgun, and starts shooting cultists. Meanwhile, the creature is killing them too, and Luke finally gets a good look at the thing. He takes a shot at it, and it charges at him into the woods. There’s a chase, but Luke finally gets out of the woods as the sun begins to come up. He stops just beyond the border and screams at the thing. Then he walks to civilization, a survivor of whatever it was.

Commentary

There’s good characters here, and we get to know each of the guys quite a bit. The scenery is beautiful and the situation is believable. Even the parts of the film before the monster shows up are entertaining; being lost in the Swedish forest has got to be terrifying all by itself.

It’s got a little bit of the Blair Witch, a little bit of Deliverance, and even a hint of Midsommar. It’s tense, it’s suspenseful, it’s very well-made, and it’s really good.