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TopicSnake Ranks Anything Horror Related Vol. 3 *RANKINGS*
Snake5555555555
10/15/18 12:20:20 PM
#138:


68. The Ritual (2017 film) (17 points)
Nominated by: jcgamer107 (2/5 remaining)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsZkHrIFJxQ" data-time="


Importance: 4
Fear: 6
Snake: 7

The Ritual is a film that nearly reaches the upper echelons of horror greatness. Set in idyllic Sweden, The Ritual is about a group of four friends who go hiking there in order to honor their deceased friend Rob, who thought it would be a great trip to strengthen their bonds and grow closer once again. In the opening scenes, Rob is killed in a robbery in front of his friend Luke, who was too slow to act and intervene in the robbery.

It's first half is superb; an exercise in masterful tension building, stressed character relationships, and fleeting glimpses of fear as the haunting aura of their friend's death hangs over the entire affair. The atmosphere is carried by the group of friends, whom all seem to hold some type of grudge or another towards Luke due to his supposed cowardice in failing to save Rob. Still, the friends try their best to make the trip at least somewhat fun or enjoyable, but other things like Dom's injured leg, directional confusion, and gutted animals seem to hold back their every effort, as if this is Rob's vengeance for Luke's cowardice.

Things come to a head in an isolated cabin in the middle of the woods, as many horror movies are wont to do, which contains a particular creepy effigy in the attic. The group still decide to stay, but obviously the film makes it clear this place is bad, bad news. Come morning, the group is in psychological tatters from their overnight stay, suffering nightmares, wounds, and one of the group even finds himself naked and praying to the attic effigy. The group is pursued by a strange monster from there, and these scenes are fantastic, with only fleeting glimpses of their assailant but not performing the same discretion when it comes to the deaths of each of the group.

Yet, I find the film succumbs to its own plot developments in the last third. Luke and Dom are eventually captured by a cult and I find the film loses all sense of horror and mystery here. The monster is shown full-body and while it's a cool looking monster, all the sense of mystique and being hunted in the woods by an unknown thing is dropped in favor of showing off said cool monster they probably put a lot of effort into designing. I can appreciate the incorporation of classic Scandinavian mythology if done well, but it feels largely unnecessary here. I much prefer the film as an allegory and a psychological look at death, friendship, regret, the ways we age, and the many rituals we go through to bring comfort and strength to ourselves.

Still, it's well worth a viewing and you may even think differently about the ending, for those that dislike the ambiguous nature of something like The Blair Witch Project, which The Ritual for sure owes a great debt to. David Bruckner has always been a horror filmmaker to keep an eye on, and as his first non-anthology directorial debut, he delivers a film that will surely leave a mark on many viewers.
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If the suspense doesn't kill you, something else will!
http://tinyurl.com/zqwzc9a - https://imgur.com/a/OcdhKKR
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