If you like the atmosphere of "The Blair Witch Project" but would prefer it not be shot with an unnecessarily shaky camera, "The Ritual" may be an hour and half of your time well spent. A Netflix original directed by the dependable horror buff David Bruckner and based off of the novel by the same name, "The Ritual" sits comfortably as competent, suspenseful monster flick.
However, for viewers who have seen one too many "friends lost in the woods hunted by an unknown entity" movies, "The Ritual" will be a slog. At its worst, it is predictable. It has a familiar, unimaginative buildup that coalesces into a limp resolution. At its best, it adds its own touches to the genre.
Unlike "The Blair Witch Project," which begins by exploring the legend of the movie's catalyst for horror, "The Ritual" opens with a personal failure. Five buddies from college sit in a pub and make plans for a guys' trip. At this point, Luke (Rafe Spall), Rob (Paul Reid), Phil (Arsher Ali), and Hutch (Robert James-Collier) are all interchangeable. The only one who stands out is the slightly less masculine Dom (Sam Troughton), whom Luke frequently teases for his weight. In a miserable turn of events, Rob is killed by two jumpy thieves holding up a liquor store. Luke, the only one of the group present, hides behind a shelf of booze and watches the murder take place without intervening. Flash forward six months, and the remaining four mates are hiking in the forest-lined mountains of Sweden, which was Rob's suggestion for their aforementioned guys' trip.
They build a shrine to honor their friend and pour one out for him before starting the trek back to civilization. This seems to be an overly meaningful gesture considering how little any of them want to be there. After much whining about the cold from each of them, Dom happens to fall and hurt his knee, prompting Hutch to suggest a shortcut through the woods to get back to their lodge faster.
This is where the movie falls into familiar territory. Shared anxiety among the members of the group and various clichéd sayings make the characters blend together and in some cases directly contradict things spoken only moments ago. The four overly confident men are subjected to spooky sounds and vague sightings of things moving through the tree line. They spend the night in an abandoned house and discover nordic markings carved into the trees as well as a shrine to some Norse deity with disturbing anatomy. Luke frequently has flashbacks to that night in the liquor store, and the others seem to have their minds messed with as well. Plagued by nightmares and lost in the woods, the group starts to deteriorate.
It's clear that the now dead friend was the one holding the five of them together. Unfortunately, the bickering and fighting between them does not hold a place in the plot, but rather serves to check off a box in the horror movie list of "must haves." A classic case of "well, it's time for them to fight amongst themselves so we can see how this is affecting them mentally, rather than coherently talk through our options." The dialogue is not wholly unrealistic, in fact, it is rather believable at times, but it never changes its pace. They always talk over each other and shout their fruitless outlooks and shut down any attempt to speak rationally or discuss what they’re encountering.
What accompanies the lackluster dialogue, however, is solid, suspenseful horror. Bruckner achieves genuine tension through competent camera work and builds a satisfyingly ominous atmosphere even with a traditional formula. My eyes often widened, lingering on shadows cast by flashlights and rustling leaves when it was apparent that the threat was lurking just feet away.
Even when the threat is not immediately discernible, the film manages to turn the few moments of calm into moments of constant tension. Trees resting far in the background of various shots may suddenly move and prove themselves not to be trees at all, but the spine-chilling form of the enormous creature that lies at the heart of the movie.
The creature brings with it the fear of total helplessness. It is the fear of being hunted by a completely alien threat, with no knowledge of how to fight back. Here, "The Ritual" proves itself to be a creature feature. Bruckner collaborated with the Keith Thompson, the concept artist who worked with Guillermo del Toro in works such as "Crimson Peak" and "Pacific Rim." He knew from the start that he wanted this to be the kind of movie where we actually get to see the monster, and thankfully, the movie is not all talk when it comes to its primary beastie.
The creature is revealed to us by the end. We get only a few good looks at it, either silhouetted against the light or up close in the dark, but it is a genuinely scary, original monster design. It vaguely reminded me of the kothoga from "The Relic," but it is best described as a fifteen foot tall, four-legged mix between various woodland animals and human body parts. For those specifically interested in creature design, it may be better to simply Google "the ritual creature maquette" to see the statue used by the effects team in full lighting and appreciate the work and care that went into it.
The creature is the highlight of the film, which becomes especially apparent by the end, which will disappoint some viewers. There is no special trick to surviving, no mystery to unravel or secret to uncover. The creature simply exists, there is a group of Swedish hillbillies that worship it, and it was just crazy bad luck that these four guys stumbled into these woods. Because of this, I did not care much by the end which of them lived or died.
At first, I was positive that the whole scenario served as a microcosm of Luke's guilt, but by the end, I was not so sure. He is ashamed of his cowardice during his friend's death. He has survivor's guilt, but that seems to have less and less to do with the external horror as the film goes on. Ultimately, the story doesn't leave us with much of a message other than implying that you can just brute force your way through supernatural threats and your emotions and your traumatic past.
"The Ritual" is a well-paced horror movie that doesn't overstay its welcome and actually shows us the creepy, cool looking monster. It succeeds as a visual story. Unfortunately, aside from the creature, there is not much meat on its bones.
