Hello this is my first horror review, so welcome. There will be spoilers, beware. I will mark the point which spoilers begin.
The Ritual on Netflix, impressed me, while not for everyone, it has a fair amount of scare and a great build up to the climax. If I had to give it a star rating, id give it a 4 out of 5.
It had great story telling, with an intimidating otherworldly enemy who began hunting the group of friends who went for a hike in the mountains. The character development in this movie is strong, with the weak in the group becoming the leaders, and the bitter in the group letting go of their spite. And friends growing closer in dire circumstance.
It is a great play on cosmic/eldritch horror, with a norse pagan spin. Although it had some inaccuracies on the norse pagan tradition, its not noticable on a large scale, except maybe to someone who practices norse tradition. The scenes are detailed, with runes and props to enthrall the watcher with curiosity and fear. This movie doesn't give everything away all at once, and a lot goes unexplained for watchers who like to question and analyze, as they watch. If you enjoy horror, consider giving this one a watch, as its a different direction, and avoids many cliches that several horror movies fall into and fail for.
Summary (Spoilers)
It begins with 5 older friends who are planning a trip together, and trying to figure out the perfect place to go. When one friend (Rob) tragically dies in a robbery, the four decided to go with his idea to honor his memory, and hike on a mountain in Sweden.
Their trip starts with a beautiful hike in honor of their dear friend Rob. It soon turns grueling when Dom injures his knee severely. The group then decides to take a "shortcut" thru the woods, in order to get out quicker for Dom. In bad weather, they find a cabin to take shelter, where they all realize something is amiss... They are plagued with nightmares and awake terrified. Luke also noticed that his chest was "marked" with several small punctures. They all decide it is about time to gtfo as quickly as possible.
This is when the group begins to be strained, and they become angry at each other. Dom specifically is unable to forgive Luke, for when Rob died. Luke was there and didn't fight back with the robbers, so Dom felt he was a coward. With Dom and Luke are injured, and Phil becoming a nervous wreck after the night in the cabin, Hutch begins to take the lead for the group. He keeps their bearings, as well as he can, and encourages them to trudge on. His role doesn't last long however, as he is taken in the night, when they are camping in their tents. They hear him, but they fail to find him the night he disappeared.
The next morning they find him strung up in a tree, similar to how the elk was strung, and gutted. The group realizes they are being hunted. With the leader gone, Luke takes the role of leader, he supports the group moving towards the end of the forrest and tries to encourage them to keep moving.
Later on their hike, Phil and Dom's motivation drop rapidly as their stamina and mental health are challenged. Dom's knee injury is much worse and Phil's mental condition has taken a down turn as well. When they both stop, unable to move forward, Luke is able to see the end of the forrest. He tries motivating them, by yelling back to let them know the good news. But they don't respond. He goes back, to find that Phil had gone missing as well and only himself and Dom remained. Dom caught a glimpse of the creature that was hunting him, and they knew it was large and fast.
Dom finally makes peace with Roberts death and his coldness towards Luke fades away. The dire circumstance requires that they work together, and with Dom's grievous injury, be can't make it on his own. They make a run for it, but unfortunately are caught by the creature.
As they awake, they find themselves chained up in a cabin. They find out it is a group of cultists, who are preparing Dom for sacrifice. Luke's mark, indicate to the cultists that he is sparred, evidently for the pain and guilt he had outliving Rob. Here Dom learns of his impending death, and accepts it, only asking for Luke to carry on a message to his wife and to burn the place down. Meanwhile Luke is struggling with denial as he has hope both of them will get out alive.
When the cultists, return they take Dom to sacrifice and this is where we learn more about what is going on, who has been hunting them all this time and why. The group of cultists are pagans whom worship Loki's son. They give him sacrifices in exchange for long, happy, and prosperous lives. A girl, who seems to feel mercy for Luke informs him that the only way he will survive is to bow to the god. But Luke will not accept it.
After hours of squirming, Luke is able to break from his bonds but he is too late to save Dom. He must continue alone. He immediately destroys and burns the place, whilst killing any cultist who gets in his way. This angers the god, who killed the merciful girl, and when he shoots it, chases him into the forrest. Luke cannot outrun the god so the god gets him and forces him to bow. However, Luke will not stay down and he attacks the god, injuring it. Luke then is able to run out of the forrest and when he exists, he finds the god is somehow bound there.
The dynamic between the friend group is relatable, as most friend groups at some point or another struggle to agree on things or fight amongst themselves. When something as tragic as losing one of the group happens, it is liable that one in the group may feel bitter and lost without them, this character is Dom.
Dom begins upset and bitter towards Luke, and even takes his bitterness out on the rest of the group. He's angry that Luke didn't do something to save Rob in the robbery, as he probably would have socked the robbers himself. He feels that Luke is a coward and undeserving of their friendship, as he failed to defend Rob. But throughout the story, and the survival scenario he finds himself in, he eventually has to rely on the rest of the group when he injures his knee. And when the group starts dropping off like flies, he finds himself in the position of having to rely on Luke, despite his last anger. This is where he is able to forgive Luke for his past "cowardice" as Luke proves that he does infact care for them and their survival. He sees that Luke will not leave him, despite his previous cold heart.
Luke also has a significant amount of growth within the few days of them hiking together. He is challenged by Dom's bitterness and plagued by nightmares and ptsd from the day he witnessed Rob's murder. He is in pain and in a weakened state. Part of him agrees with Dom, that he wasn't brave enough, that he should have done something to prevent it. This challenge enables him later to take leadership of the group with Hutch gets killed, and his experience strengthened his mental fortitude and survival instincts. He was determined to get out of the forrest alive, but he was equally determined to bring Dom and Phil out with him. Though, tragically he is unable to save his friends, near the end his true bravery comes out in his rage. He rages against the cult and the god who killed his friends, and refuses to bow to the god who took his friends from him. His growth in character shines when he strikes the god with an axe and is able to get out alive.
Hutch and Phil, however are more tragic ends. Hutch, being the leader, dies first. He was the most well-rounded of the group and almost didn't need to grow much in the survival situation. Though he struggled to keep the group together and direct the group, he knew the quickest way out and was able to set them on the right path before his departure.
Phil, on the other hand was fairly well rounded from the start, he wasn't plagued with the bitter greif Dom had, he wasn't strained to keep the group together as Hutch had, and he wasn't dealing with the trauma Luke was. All he was originally concerned about, was having a nice trip to honor Rob. But he was weak. Ever since waking up naked, praying to the effigy he had changed. He was terrified of the supposed witchcraft and his growth was paralyzed from fear. His anxiety grew from the noises in the forrest and the mass wilderness. He shrunk, and became small. His greatest flaw was his inability to trust his friends would stick with him, and get him out. He was too afraid of the monster that hunted him, and tragically, that was ultimately his end.
If you read through this, I highly recommend you check out the movie. As reading a summary and analysis, is not going to compare to the raw emotions you'll feel while this movie enthralls you with its story. Make sure to leave a 🍄 emoji, in the comments to let me know you finished reading or a 🌻emoji if you watched the movie. Let me know what you think about my short analysis/review, and please let me know what you think of the movie. Feel free to post theories down below and Ill see ya next time 💙💙💙
Reminder, you can find "The Ritual, 2018" on Netflix.
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