This Valentine’s Day, similar to Christian, I hunkered down and watched a movie. But this was no love-themed slasher, instead, my partner and I were going through movies to watch and landed on The Ritual. The movie follows a group of men that set out to hike through the Scandinavian wilderness to honor their recently deceased friends wishes. Although, like any horror movie suggests, there is always something lurking out in the woods to get you.
In my opinion, every individual aspect about this movie is good. The actors create a very real dynamic between their characters, the set and sound design are hyper-realistic and almost consume you in the plot. All of these elements come together like ingredients for a perfect cake, but something went wrong in the process and the movie itself ends up a little burnt.
My non-spoiler review: you could see it, you could also not see it. If you want a horror movie about Sweden, Midsommar is where you should turn to, not this. The Ritual is an all too familiar story about a trip gone wrong in the woods. The plot keeps your attention, but it is not a stand-out movie or something I would enthusiastically recommend. The movie itself seems to fall flat.
*PLOT & SPOILERS AHEAD*
The opening scene(s) of this movie were good. The death scene of Rob in the convenience store was shot well (great soundtrack, kept my attention), and I like how the rest of the gang came together to honor his memory and go on the hiking trip he suggested.
The remainder of the movie takes place in the woods, where the men stumble upon a gutted elk, hanging in the trees, with strange symbols all around. HELLO???? I’d be turning around the second I see a giant creature in the woods become a victim of the woods. Obviously, that was not the working of another elk. And whatever it was the work of, is vicious. If this movie followed me, the movie would be 15 minutes long. I’d leave the woods. Goodbye. But without conflict, there is no plot, so of course the men continue along the path. And when a storm comes, the men find a strange hut in the woods, spend the night having nightmares, and it all goes downhill from there.
Throughout the movie, the men get picked off in the night and gutted in the trees by some roaring creature. That is the bulk of the movie, and while imagining yourself in that position you think “wow that’s scary”, it gets repetitive to the point of lack of interest.
At the end of the movie, we do get a creature reveal, which I do like because I feel most movies with a ‘creature in the shadows’ never go past a moving silhouette reveal. It gets culty, it gets Greek, and the last scene shows that only one man gets out alive because the creature can’t leave the woods (forcefield NOT mentioned, this not explained). And then fade to black. And now do we assume that he goes and lives his normal life..? How do you bounce back from all your friends dying in the woods? Who knows.
Me personally, I gave this a 2/5. Like I said before, I think everything about it is good, but when it comes together, it kind of flops.
