El ritual

Making effective use of its isolated setting to amp up its claustrophobic aura, The Ritual begins on a promising note, gets even better with a tense middle act but all the potential it had of finishing as a thrilling example of its genre is ultimately squandered by its underwhelming final act.

The story follows a group of four friends who embark on a hiking trip in Sweden to honour their recently deceased pal. Things take an unexpected turn when they decide to go off-trail by taking a shortcut and are lost in the woods. To make matter worse, they are being stalked by a menacing presence.

Directed by David Bruckner, the premise is set up rather quickly with a finely crafted prologue and once the characters go off-trail, the director expertly switches gears by smartly utilising the silence & mystery of the surroundings to ratchet up the tension while the excellent camerawork & brooding score only add to its foreboding aura.

The characters aren't fleshed enough to make us invest in their journey but their shared predicament is still relatable. The tension is nerve-wracking when it's done right but few creative choices don't work out in its favour. Performances aren't any impressive but the cast still manages to deliver enough with what they are given.

On an overall scale, The Ritual had the opportunity to secure its place amongst the better examples of indie horror in recent years and was on trail during the first hour but the last 30 minutes foil the overall journey, for it doesn't pack the same punch as what unfolded before. At its best when capitalising on our fear of the unknown, The Ritual finishes as just another middling entry in the horror genre.

As a film, I really enjoyed it. Kinda creepy, and it was well executed from cast to photo to everything.

Only thing i oppose, as a Swede, is the image of the Swedish woods as something scary. It really isn't, I'm sorry to say. I have spent a good many nights there in tents and cabins, and I am pretty well educated about the folklore. This one turns into something that is reall none-Scandinavian in terms of that. None of the "rituals" or creatures have nothing to do with actual lore. Sure, they speak about norse figures like the children of Loki, but that is just silly.

As a fright-flick, though, it is good.

And for you to know: We do have scary creatures in the woods. But we who live here know them, and they look like nothing as projected here. Come and see.

Never read up on this so went in blind.

What I found was tense and well done affair that gave as much as it promised.Kept up the tension all the way and some of the cinematography and audio really brought the theatre to life.

Able acting all the way through and had just enough jumps to stop it getting predictable. Well directed and great script...some of the banter was really well done and made us all giggle.

The set pieces containing flashbacks and hallucinations were very very well done. I've read some reviews about a so called silly ending, bur for me I thought the ending was in the vain of the movie.

It brought back to me last years Blair Witch with the camera- work..did i see that? ..what was that ?? Very well done indeed. Well worth a trip with your partner as they will be clung to you from the off set. Will keep an eye on the director for more. I gave it a 6 and not a 7 because of the ending..it wasn't silly but maybe could have explained a bit more.

The film is about a group of friends who go trekking in the Swedish forests to honour their dead friend's wish. I got enticed due to the trailer n the director's name was sufficient for me. Have enjoyed David Bruckners films. (The Signal 2007, Siren, Southbound). Saw this on a rented dvd. The film captured the eerie nature of the forest so well, it becomes the most important character in the film. The creepiness n sense of dread in the broad daylight n the surrealistic nightmare sequences in the nighttime added solid tensions. The dream sequences in the cabin was truly nightmarish. The suspense is maintained throughout. This film makes getting lost in the woods scary all over again. The woodlands are a sight to see and have a very alienating feel that tells you that you are never safe, no matter if its daylight or night.

I don't remember ever reviewing a movie here, but I decided to come at the rescue of this movie... I really enjoyed this movie and I go against the reviews which once more put it in the "average around 6.0 score" where so many other scary movies are standing. I consider myself a horror/scary amateur and I have seen many movies of this kind, and since the last 10 years, its getting harder to find some that makes you say "ok, this was a bit different".... (of course there are some, but in my opinion over the large quantity, only over 20% are passing the "not too bad" test"). For once, we don't have to bear some stupid teenagers partying for spring break in the forest, some people behaving so stupidly that you think "seriously ??", a haunted house, a possession, or a redneck hillbilly family... Here the movie has a lot of a "realistic" touch to it, the characters are normal and they could be us, normal people behaving normally in the face of danger and fear and that reinforce the attachment for the characters. Many times I wondered, "damn, i dont know what I would have done in this situation". The mood is nicely growing more and more stressing and not much of the "monster" is shown for a long time, letting the viewer finding out slowly about the real horror happening in those woods. The change of scenery (Swedish forest) and the isolation of the characters reinforce the idea that nature in itself can be scary and that even a friendly country like Sweden can appear in another light... The last quarter of the movie is a bit more conventional to the genre but still not falling in all the clichés. I especially raise a thumb up for the creature design and the explanation on what it is. Probably not all will approve, but I liked the way this was going and when learning what the creature really was, I wondered "would I try to fight against that or give up ?"

So yeah, this movie is not THE movie of the year for me, but for sure, it is totally over many of the "i watch and I forget" movie that I've been seing in horror recently. I recommend.