The Ritual

No spoilers in this review but having come away from watching this film, on my own at the local Empire Cinema on Friday 13th I would say this is a good horror film for those who are bored senseless by the endless tide of "jump scare but not scary really" horror films we have to endure these days.

This is a proper story with a proper start, middle and end.

At times unsettling, at times creepy, at times a bit distressing whilst always being restrained (its not an utter gore fest and the violence is all the more affecting for that) this is a decent film elevated by good characterisation and very good acting.

Whilst nothing utterly original is on offer here, it is a film that does what it says on the tin and it is all done well. Special mention to Rafe Spall who, just like his dad, Timothy, continues to be brilliant in everything he's in.

Solid 7/10 and one for fans of proper horror. It deserves to be seen at the cinema as well so I'd urge people to get to watch this.

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.

I really liked this movie. Yes, the ending could've been better, a lot better, but it was really psychologically thrilling and spooky, especially for a Netflix movie. I'm really impressed with Netflix's content lately.

I see trends in the low star reviews that I want to address.

1) "the ending was bad" I agree, but the rest of it wasn't. A movie with a bad ending isn't going to be the best movie of all time, but if I enjoy watching 90% of the movie, then I would say I got my time's worth. It's just a shame that it didn't take the opportunity to use the "monsters who scare your mind, not just rip up your body" thing that it could have had going for it.

2) "not scary enough" it was suspenseful and creepy. It's more psychologically thrilling than outright terrifying, and I genuinely wonder which movies these people deem scary enough for them to enjoy because most horror movies really suck, especially in the past 20 years. Where are they finding all these "genuinely scary" movies? Or are they just consistently always disappointed with all of the horror movies they watch but keep watching them anyways? I have a lot of questions.

3) "didn't capture the essence of the book" why does everyone who reads a book that gets made into a movie feel the need to say this? I'm not sure if they just like being pretentious or if they genuinely believe a 90 minute movie must entirely capture the essence of a full length novel. There's no reason to judge them as if they need to be identical. They're standalone works. When I choose to watch the movie, I would hope that they don't drag it out as long as turning a book into a literal script would require.

4) "Blair witch rip off" very few movies, songs, books, etc. are truly original. You can make a movie with the same basic story tone as another one. Add your own twist, or don't, whatever, I'm not the purity police - just make an entertaining work without breaking copyright laws. If I'm entertained, I don't care if it resembles something else that also entertained me.

Anyways, if you read this entire review to learn if this movie is worth a watch, you clearly don't have anything better to do so just watch it. It's not bad.

The key to any good horror film has always been having characters that are realistic and that the audience can relate to and care for. Yet so many horror films completely overlook this element in their film. 'The Ritual' does not make this mistake. These characters are highly flawed, but they're also relatable and we as an audience can understand (if not fully agree with) choices and decisions they've made. I suspect a lot of this stems from the fact that 'The Ritual' was based on a novel as the source material. Movies based on novels almost always contain more depth to their characters for obvious reasons.

So you've got yourself a set of great characters, but that still isn't enough to guarantee a successful film. You now have the obligation to utilise those characters you've created. 'The Ritual' ticks that box as well. Firstly, it's a great looking film. They did a fantastic job picking the setting for the film. Creepy and atmospheric, whilst beautiful and endearing at the same time. Secondly, this film ticks possibly the rarest box a horror movie is ever able to achieve these days, which is to be scary. I almost never get any rise in my heart-rate during a horror film any more, but that was certainly not the case here. I was invested in the story and the suspense had me on edge.

The first 3/4 of the film are some of the best mystery, suspense, horror film watching I've done in years. This film was almost destined for greatness, but unfortunately the final 1/4 does let things a slip a bit. Once any mystery is gone from the story things lose steam a little and everything becomes a little stock-standard. The ending is quite abrupt too, and I had hoped for a little more. Altogether though I certainly recommend giving this film a watch. It's about as good as modern horror films come.

Less is often more. In The Ritual, this is so true as the wilderness, the forest and creepy sounds are what create the tension. The effects are few, but effective. Four men go on a hike and end up somewhere in the deepest forests in Sweden, only to discover that something evil awaits them there. The first half of the movie is really good. The end not as good but decent. Unfortunately, the film is not shot in Sweden but in Romania, which I think is a shame because I myself am Swedish and immediately saw that nature does not look at all like in Sweden. But overall it is better than average low budget horror movies and worth watching.