Runtime: 94 minutes
Directed by: David Bruckner
Starring: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton, Paul Reid
From: Entertainment One
The movie that changed my plans for tonight.
Originally, what I was going to review tomorrow was The Night House; I heard good things, after all. Before last night I hadn't seen any David Bruckner films-as this was on Netflix why not give this a shot? Turns out, I now will not go out to my local cineplex to see The Night House and if I ever do see that motion picture, it'll be via streaming sometime in the far, far future. I know Ritual has its share of fans... I wish the feeling was mutual.
The plot: 4 British middle-aged chaps go off to Northern Sweden (Romania stood in for that country) to hike as a tribute to their buddy that died under tragic circumstances. They often bicker and drop the F-bomb WAY too often... and that's just the first act. A half hour in it turns really stupid, the F word is heard nonstop and so turned my interest in this. I suddenly stopped caring at the nonsense I was witnessing, which was noticeably derivative. It'd reach spoiler territory if every “inspiration” was mentioned so just two will be mentioned: The Blair Witch Project and The Descent.
A shame I couldn't have enjoyed this folk horror film like many other have. There's gore and lovely scenery in the woods, yet if I don't like the characters and think that the story is full of dumb illogical moments... I won't care. All the movies this was clearly inspired by were better than this mish-mash that did not feel fresh or original. Learning about ::redacted:: mythology was intriguing but not enough to make me like this. While I am sure The Night House is more to my tastes, my reaction to The Ritual is enough for me to wait and watch something else tonight instead. Before Halloween rolls around more folk horror will be seen—with any luck those will be more gratifying.
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