The Ritual (2017) Review - We're Going Blair Witch, Baby! | Movie Waffle


The Ritual (2017) directed by David Bruckner - There has to be some deep psychological explanation behind the abundance of mute baddies in horror movies that—as soon as they brush their teeth in the morning—begin dragging away poor sods and slashing throats within the first 10 minutes of runtime no questions asked. I know I’m not the only one who thinks that upping the tension is not synonymous with mindlessly upping the body count. Enter this movie.


The Ritual involves four blokes that bum about a spooky forest of mystery and intrigue Blair Witch style. During this march they must work through various interpersonal and intrapersonal struggles that strain the group relationships while discovering strange signs of something/someone lurking in the trees. Not very original I'll grant you, but the dynamics and dialogue do enough to pad out the tropes it falls back on, and the tension builds well. Yet as the saying goes, “all good things must come to an end”. After the first hour, the relationships vanish and the only thing the viewer is left with are stock characters and cliche. Shame that.


Also, and maybe this is just me, but if I was going on a vacation I would like to know if there was a pagan death cult living a stone’s throw from my bedroom window. Maybe stick that little detail on the back of the welcome pamphlet, yeah?


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