Written by: Joe Barton
Starring: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton
Rating: [3.5/5]
When given the option to either take a guy’s trip to Las Vegas or venture into a long hike in the middle of a mysterious forest in Sweden, the former should always be the selection. Each has their risks of ending in disaster but only in one of them do they have the chance to run into a God-like monster looking to use them for sacrificial purposes. Now that I think about it, the scenario could also happen in Las Vegas. All kidding aside, with its creepy atmosphere and terrifying reveals, The Ritual finds intriguing ways to integrate the theme of grief throughout this tense affair.
A year after meaning to go on a hike with a friend who died in a robbery gone wrong, a group of friends decide a year later to head out to do the hike in honor of their fallen friend. As they begin the hike, a twisted ankle makes them need to cut through a forest rather than their trail leading them toward a horrifying experience.
Horror films taking place in a creepy woods setting carry a different power because of the inherent terror that exists with what could linger out there and the difficulty in spotting it. This feature very much understands the assignment and delivers something incredibly mysterious and frightening once we get to the center of what everything they experience means. Featuring many sticks snapping in the distance, mysterious figures moving in the dark, and some strange dreams, this film undoubtedly takes us for a ride.
Leading them towards this hike remains their grief from the loss of their friend through a tragic incident Luke (Rafe Spall) witnessed. Something horrifying to see and live with following the event. This journey to take together in his honor certainly means plenty to these four guys but with the frustration building because of circumstances, they let some true feelings slip out. Some of it revolves around the guilt and anger still simmering between them regarding the event that took out their friend. One of those blow-ups that make your eyebrows go up near your hairline in things left unsaid for a while and suddenly make their presence known amongst them.
This grief continues to ruminate in the mind of these four guys, particularly Luke, who continues to have these dreams taking him back to that night. Something disconcerting for him, certainly but also precedes something terrible occurring outside of the tents. These night sequences craft some brutally terrifying moments, where when those flashlights get turned on you fear for what these characters may see. It serves as a testament to the tension built by director David Bruckner, but also the incredible sound design in allowing these noises to help our minds conjure up what could possibly surround them when they lay so helpless in their tents. These characters, and the audience as well as a result, constantly sit in unease throughout these mysterious parts, which only gets more terrifying when the reveals of this feature take place.
On display throughout this feature is a decent amount of gore that really goes there in showing the bloody events occurring in the feature. With the title of this film being “The Ritual,” you can ascertain something of the sort will eventually happen, which involves plenty of blood and some fairly disturbing content to take in. Everything builds up to allow this release of tension in figuring out what everything means to leave that much more of an impact. This provides some gnarly scenes where some wild events occur showing once again why these characters should have chosen Vegas instead of honoring their friend. They could have accomplished that feat instead of walking into some deserted woods.
Incredibly tense and well-crafted, The Ritual raises all of the fears one should have about spending a night out in the woods and amplifies it by revealing some very disturbing things occurring where they venture into. We receive the introduction into quite the creature in this feature that lives up to the anticipation built through the tension of this movie making for a wildly trippy set of events all compounded by the grief each of these characters still carries with them every day after losing someone so dear to them. Quite an effective film and certainly one for those who like a creepy woodsy story to enjoy.
Films with Josh 
