It's basically a freaky, updated version of The Blair Witch Project with a gimmicky premise, an unnecessarily changed setting, and someone's Swedish fantasies. And it's fabulous.
The Ritual concerns a group of four young men who, to honor their recently murdered friend, go hiking in rural Sweden. The gorgeous protected land harbors a dark secret, though, as the friends soon learn. Something is moving in the shadows of trees. Someone is leaving wooden figures in the forest. Something gutted an elk hanging twenty feet off the ground.
As nightmares begin to plague the group they seek a way out of the forest. But now tensions are running high and it becomes clear their health -- and, you know, lives -- are in danger.
It's a thrilling story -- old as time, still so haunting -- in a fresh setting. Not much else is fresh here. Not the monster, which is fabulously realized as a creature from nature, a "jotunn" or troll of Scandinavian myth. Not the pagan cult that worships it. And certainly not the way the young men are ritually sacrificed to the beast.
But originality doesn't always make a film worth watching. The Ritual is brilliantly acted, especially by Robert James-Collier, and beautifully shot. The images of the forest and mountains are breathtaking. The special effects and design of the monster are surprisingly good. And, of course, if you, like me, are a total sucker for pagan cults and mythic monsters and deep dark woods, you'll love this movie too.
IMDb: The Ritual
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