The Ritual (2017 film)

The Ritual is a 2017 British horror film directed by David Bruckner, written by Joe Barton, and starring Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, and Sam Troughton.[3] The film is based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Adam Nevill.

The Ritual
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Bruckner
Produced by	Jonathan Cavendish Richard Holmes
Screenplay by	Joe Barton
Based on	The Ritual by Adam Nevill
Starring	Rafe Spall Arsher Ali Robert James-Collier Sam Troughton
Music by	Ben Lovett
Cinematography	Andrew Shulkind
Edited by	Mark Towns
Production company	The Imaginarium eOne Films
Distributed by	eOne Films (UK) Netflix (International)
Release date	8 September 2017 (TIFF) 13 October 2017 (UK)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$1.3–1.6 million[1][2]

Plot

Five friends—Phil, Dom, Hutch, Luke, and Rob—meet at a pub and discuss plans for a group holiday. Rob suggests hiking in Sweden, but gets rebuffed. Afterward, Luke and Rob leave to purchase alcohol, but interrupt a robbery in progress. Luke hides while the thieves harass Rob for his valuables. Luke continues to hide, torn with indecision over how to intervene before the thieves kill Rob for not giving them his ring.

Six months later, the remaining four embark on a hiking trip along the Kungsleden in northern Sweden in Rob's memory. A day later, Dom injures his knee. Hutch suggests they cut through the forest rather than use the longer marked trail in the hopes of sparing Dom further suffering. Upon entering the forest, however, the group encounters strange phenomena, including a gutted elk hanging from several branches and strange symbols carved in the trees. As night falls, a torrential rainstorm forces them to find shelter. They come upon an abandoned cabin, so they break in and stay for the night. Inside, they find necklaces bearing similar symbols and a statue made of twigs of a decapitated human torso with antlers for hands. During the night, Luke has a nightmare about the robbery. The next morning, the group awake to find Luke's chest bleeding from strange puncture wounds and a naked Phil praying to the statue. All of them having had nightmares. Disturbed by their unconscious actions, the group tries to find a way out. While discerning their location, Luke spots a large figure amongst the trees, but Dom doubts him. In their ensuing argument, Dom calls Luke a coward for letting Rob die to save himself.

Later that night, Luke is having another nightmare about the robbery, and is awakened by Phil's screams. He comes out of his tent and finds Hutch's tent empty and partially collapsed. The remaining three men rush deeper into the woods to search for him, but by dawn, they realize that they are lost and unable to locate their campsite. While continuing their search without their supplies, they find Hutch gutted and impaled on tree branches. After giving him an impromptu burial, they continue on. Later, Phil is suddenly dragged away by an unseen creature. Despite realizing the creature has been stalking them the entire time, Luke and Dom have little choice but to make a run for it. As the creature gives chase, they find a torch-lined path leading to a small settlement and rush into a cottage to hide. After they get inside they are knocked unconscious.

When they awake, they find themselves restrained in a cellar. An elderly woman enters and inspects Luke's wounds, revealing she bears a similar marking. On her way out, she orders two men to take Dom upstairs. A younger woman enters and explains that preparations are being made for a sacrifice. Sometime later, a beaten Dom is returned to the basement. He tells Luke that he is to be sacrificed to the creature, urging him to escape and destroy the village before he too is sacrificed. Desperate to escape, Luke breaks his thumb and partially frees himself from his restraints as Dom is tied up outside by the townsfolk. Amidst the ritual, Dom has a vision of his wife emerging from the forest, not realizing it is the creature until right before it picks him up and impales him on a nearby tree. Some time later, the young woman comes back. When Luke asks about the creature, she explains that it is a Jötunn, an ancient god-like entity that the cult provides sacrifices to in return for immortality. Luke has been chosen and is to either worship it or be sacrificed. As she leaves you see that she also bears the markings.

After she leaves, Luke fully frees himself and ventures upstairs. Armed with a torch, he finds a twisted congregation of mummified worshippers that begin to move and sets them alight, burning the cabin and attracting the Jötunn. It picks up the young woman. Luke finds a hunting rifle and heads downstairs, running into and killing a follower before taking another man's axe. The enraged Jötunn kills the young woman while Luke shoots at it and escapes. It pursues him, crippling his mind with hallucinations of Rob's death before catching and forcing him to his knees, offering him a chance to submit. Luke refuses before striking it with the axe, briefly incapacitating it. Following hallucinatory sign-posts and rays of sunlight, he emerges in an open field. Unable to leave the forest, the Jötunn roars in anger while Luke shouts back in triumph before heading towards a paved road.

Cast

• Rafe Spall as Luke
• Arsher Ali as Phil
• Robert James-Collier as Hutch
• Sam Troughton as Dom
• Paul Reid as Robert
• Matthew Needham as Junkie
• Jacob James Beswick as Fiend
• Maria Erwolter as The Host
• Hilary Reeves as The Curate
• Peter Liddell as The Logger
• Francesca Mula as The Witch
• Kerri McLean as Gayle
• Gheorghe Mezei as unnamed Parishioner #1
• Adriana Macsut as unnamed Parishioner #2
• Constantin Codrea as unnamed Parishioner (as Constantin Liviu Codrea)

Production

The film was shot on location in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania.[4]

The film's score was composed by Bruckner's long-time friend and frequent collaborator, Ben Lovett. Lovett also scored Bruckner's 2007 film The Signal and 2020's The Night House.[5]

Release

The film premiered in September 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival, where its international distribution rights were sold to Netflix for $4.75 million.[6] The film was theatrically released in the United Kingdom by eOne Films on 13 October 2017 and grossed over $1 million during its run.[1] It was later released to Netflix on 9 February 2018.[7]

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 73% based on 86 reviews, and an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Director David Bruckner makes evocative use of the Scandinavian setting and a dedicated cast to deliver a handsome — if familiar — horror story."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9] Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times praised the film and said that it was "Efficient and highly effective in its style, relying on sound, creepy production design, and the men's own fear and misjudgments to create the sense of pervasive doom."[10] RogerEbert.com writer Simon Abrams scored the film a 2/4, saying "The most disappointing kind of bad horror movie: the kind that's too smart to be this dumb."[11] Kyle Kohner of The Playlist gave the film a negative review, saying "David Bruckner had all the ingredients for a horror masterpiece - deceptively scenic wilderness shots, great character camaraderie, dreadful atmosphere/setting- but The Ritual winds up a missed opportunity."[12]

References

1. "The Ritual (2017) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
2. "The Ritual". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
3. "'The Ritual' Review: David Bruckner Shows Promise in Familiar Horror Tale | TIFF 2017". Collider. 10 September 2017.
4. https://www.shorehamherald.co.uk/news/horror-film-ritual-features-southwick-actor-1074836
5. Reeves, Rachel (7 February 2020). "[Exclusive Interview] Composer Ben Lovett On THE NIGHT HOUSE, David Bruckner and His Deep Cut Connection to Alkaline Trio". Nightmare on Film Street. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
6. "Toronto: Horror Film 'The Ritual' Sells to Netflix for $4.75 Million (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
7. "THE RITUAL Heading to Netflix This February | Nightmare on Film Street". Nightmare on Film Street. 13 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
8. "The Ritual (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
9. "The Ritual Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
10. Walsh, Katie. "Primal and visceral horror haunts 'The Ritual'". latimes.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
11. Abrams, Simon. "The Ritual Movie Review & Film Summary (2018) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
12. "'The Ritual' Conjures Up Familiar, Forgettable Horror [Review]". The Playlist. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.

External links

• The Ritual at IMDb