One day, I was surfing through Netflix looking for a good scare when I stumbled upon a horror movie I had admittedly had low expectations for. It ended up blowing my mind and I spent the next couple of hours reading up on its lore.
“The Ritual” (2017) is a thrilling movie that takes the audience through a rollercoaster of twists and turns. Its creative storyline and deeper message mixes perfectly with its horror and keeps you questioning well after the end credits. Imagine if “Midsommar” met “It Follows” with a mix of “Blair Witch Project” as well.
The movie starts out with a group of friends mourning the unexpected loss of one of their members. They decide to deal with this death by, you guessed it, going into a scary looking forest. The movie addressed themes of toxic masculinity, true friendship and the hardship of loss. Each character goes through their own journey that reflects their inner turmoil and those conflicts ultimately prop up how each individual story ends.
The feeling of something watching the group and making them act completely out of the ordinary makes the viewer feel anxious, as if something quicker than the human eye is watching them too. Once the movie reaches its gory climax, the viewer starts to understand what the monster is, but that just makes them (and the characters) feel more hopeless in their endeavor to escape. Overall, the friend group’s inability to work cohesively and their nonexistent conflict resolution skills lead them to their own misfortune.
The cinematography of the film is amazing and the actors are spot on. Everything looks incredibly realistic and there is no phony CGI to ruin any moments of terror. They also do not reveal the monster too soon and when they do, it is earned and scary. This is especially impressive, considering it was made by an indie British studio with only $1 million. Director David Bruckner pulled together some amazing actors and writers Joe Barton and Adam Nevill made the dialogue so smooth you could believe it was real. They did justice to the book of the same name that the movie was based on, which was written by Adam Nevill himself.
Rafe Spall (Luke) plays a character taken over by trauma and grief in a performance of a lifetime. His dedication to the character can be seen by the almost crazed look in his eye, especially toward the end of the film. He did a great job portraying self consciousness, regret and anger, which imprisoned him in his own mind.
Arsher Ali (Phil) is the typical funny, good looking friend who seems to have it all. He and Spall play off each other as the only two characters who buy into the fact there is a monster while the others deny it until it is too late.
Robert James-Collier (Hutch) showed his acting chops and widened his range with this movie. I have always thought he was a great actor, especially after seeing him as Thomas in Downton Abbey, and he stepped into a horror role seamlessly. He plays the know it all leader to the perfect degree and tries to keep a cool head through the madness.
Sam Troughton (Dom) is insufferable in the best way. His character is angry, whiny and dare I say, bitchy. Troughton’s acting is almost too good and he pulls off a limp very well. It was awesome to see how his facial expressions and demeanor changed as he grew as a character throughout the film.
This film earns a 5/5 from me, I have no critiques (I am also not a snobby critic, just a normie). There is so much more I want to say, but that would spoil the fun. Next time you and your friends are looking for a good scare on a Friday night, give “The Ritual” a shot.
