The Ritual
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDavid Bruckner
Screenplay byJoe Barton
Based onThe Ritual
by Adam Nevill
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAndrew Shulkind
Edited byMark Towns
Music byBen Lovett
Production
company
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 8 September 2017 (2017-09-08) (TIFF)
  • 13 October 2017 (2017-10-13) (United Kingdom)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.3–1.6 million[1][2]

The Ritual is a 2017 British folk horror film directed by David Bruckner and written by Joe Barton. Based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Adam Nevill, the film stars Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, and Sam Troughton as four friends on a hiking trip though a Swedish old-growth forest, where they encounter an ancient evil presence.

Following its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September, The Ritual was released by eOne in the United Kingdom on 13 October.

Plot

Five friends—Phil, Dom, Hutch, Luke, and Rob—meet at a pub and discuss plans for a group holiday. Rob suggests hiking in Sweden, but gets rebuffed. Afterward, Luke and Rob leave to purchase alcohol, but interrupt a robbery in progress. Luke hides while the thieves harass Rob for his valuables. Luke nearly intervenes, but stops himself before the thieves kill Rob for disobeying them.

Six months later, the remaining four embark on a hiking trip along the Kungsleden in northern Sweden in memory of Rob. A day later, Dom injures his knee. Hutch suggests they cut through the forest rather than use the longer marked trail. Upon entering the forest, the group come across a gutted elk hanging from several branches, as well as mysterious symbols carved in the trees. As night falls, a torrential rainstorm forces them to find shelter. They discover an abandoned cabin, which they break into for the night. Inside, they find necklaces bearing similar symbols and an effigy of a decapitated human torso made of twigs, with antlers for hands. During the night, Luke has a nightmare about the robbery. The next morning, the group awake to find Luke's chest bleeding from puncture wounds and a naked Phil praying to the effigy, all of them having had nightmares. Disturbed by their unconscious actions, the group seek to leave the woods. While discerning their location, Luke spots a large figure amongst the trees, but Dom doubts him. In their ensuing argument, Dom calls Luke a coward for letting Rob die.

Later that night, Luke is having another nightmare about the robbery, and is awakened by Phil's screams. He emerges from his tent and finds Hutch's tent empty and partially collapsed. The remaining three men rush deeper into the woods to search for him, but by dawn, they realize they are lost and unable to locate their campsite. Continuing their search without their supplies, they find Hutch gutted and impaled on tree branches; they give him an impromptu burial. Around sunset, Phil is suddenly dragged away by an unseen creature. Luke and Dom decide to run; as the creature gives chase, the men find a torch-lined path leading to a small settlement and rush into a cottage. After entering they are knocked unconscious.

When they awake, they find themselves restrained in a cellar. An elderly woman enters and inspects Luke's chest wounds, revealing she bears a similar marking. On her way out, she orders two men to take Dom upstairs. A younger woman enters and explains that preparations are being made for a sacrifice. Sometime later, a beaten Dom is returned to the basement. He tells Luke that he is to be sacrificed to the creature, urging him to escape and destroy the village before he too is sacrificed. Desperate to escape, Luke breaks his thumb and partially frees himself from his restraints as Dom is tied up outside by the townsfolk. Amidst the ritual, Dom has a vision of his wife emerging from the forest, only to realise it is the creature as it picks him up and impales him on a nearby tree. Some time later, the young woman returns. When Luke asks about the creature, she explains that it is a jötunn named "Moder," an ancient god-like entity and an offspring of Loki that the cult provides sacrifices to in return for immortality. Luke has been chosen and is to either worship Moder or be sacrificed.

After she leaves, Luke fully frees himself and ventures upstairs. Armed with a torch, he finds a congregation of mummified worshipers that begin to move and sets them alight, burning the cabin, and attracting Moder. Luke finds a hunting rifle and heads downstairs, killing a follower before taking another man's axe. The enraged jötunn kills the young woman while Luke shoots at her and escapes. Moder pursues him, crippling his mind with hallucinations of Rob's death before catching and forcing him to his knees. Luke refuses to submit and strikes her with the axe. Following hallucinatory sign-posts and rays of sunlight, he emerges in an open field. Unable to leave the forest, Moder roars in anger while Luke shouts back in triumph before heading towards a paved road.

Cast

Production

The film was shot on location in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania.[3]

The film's score was composed by David Bruckner's long-time friend and frequent collaborator, Ben Lovett. Lovett also scored Bruckner's 2007 film The Signal and 2020's The Night House.[4]

Release

The Ritual premiered in September 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival, where its international distribution rights were sold to Netflix for $4.75 million.[5] The film was theatrically released in the United Kingdom by eOne Films on 13 October 2017 and grossed over $1 million during its run.[1] It was later released to Netflix on 9 February 2018.[6]

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 74% based on 96 reviews, and an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Director David Bruckner makes evocative use of the Scandinavian setting and a dedicated cast to deliver a handsome — if familiar — horror story."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[8] Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times praised the film and said that it was "Efficient and highly effective in its style, relying on sound, creepy production design, and the men's own fear and misjudgments to create the sense of pervasive doom."[9] RogerEbert.com writer Simon Abrams scored the film a 2/4, saying "The most disappointing kind of bad horror movie: the kind that's too smart to be this dumb."[10] Kyle Kohner of The Playlist gave the film a negative review, saying "David Bruckner had all the ingredients for a horror masterpiece - deceptively scenic wilderness shots, great character camaraderie, dreadful atmosphere/setting- but The Ritual winds up a missed opportunity."[11]

References

  1. 1 2 "The Ritual (2017) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  2. ↑ "The Ritual". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  3. ↑ "Horror film the Ritual features Southwick actor".
  4. ↑ Reeves, Rachel (7 February 2020). "[Exclusive Interview] Composer Ben Lovett On THE NIGHT HOUSE, David Bruckner and His Deep Cut Connection to Alkaline Trio". Nightmare on Film Street. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  5. ↑ "Toronto: Horror Film 'The Ritual' Sells to Netflix for $4.75 Million (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "THE RITUAL Heading to Netflix This February". Nightmare on Film Street. 13 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  7. ↑ "The Ritual (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  8. ↑ "The Ritual Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  9. ↑ Walsh, Katie (8 February 2018). "Primal and visceral horror haunts 'The Ritual'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  10. ↑ Abrams, Simon. "The Ritual Movie Review & Film Summary (2018) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  11. ↑ "'The Ritual' Conjures Up Familiar, Forgettable Horror [Review]". The Playlist. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
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