I know I’m not the horror aficionado around these parts, what with Keith and Jon always ready to dive into the dark and the bloody. But on occasion, I can be convinced to sit down for a little bit of the old spooks and jumps. Usually, I’ll lean into the slasher or horror comedy side of things, but last week, Marisa and I watched a good, creepy scary one.
The Ritual was directed by David Bruckner, known for his atmospheric and unsettling approach to genre filmmaking. Before The Ritual, Bruckner co-directed the cult horror anthology The Signal and contributed standout segments to V/H/S and Southbound. The screenplay was written by Joe Barton, adapting Adam Nevill’s 2011 novel. Barton would go on to create the sci-fi crime series Giri/Haji and work on projects like The Lazarus Project. The film stars Rafe Spall, whose prior work includes Life of Pi and Prometheus.
Since The Ritual, Bruckner has continued to solidify his reputation in horror, directing The Night House and the 2022 reboot of Hellraiser, both of which continue to explore the themes of grief, guilt, and supernatural dread.
I don’t want to spoil anything here, but the story begins with four friends who take a hiking trip in Sweden to honour a fifth friend in their group who died suddenly. It it like a cold, hearty wake to help them remember their buddy and work through their feelings. Then they are forced to take a shortcut off the trails and through the woods, where creeps occur.
What separated this film from others is the amount of emotion that is dragged into the plot. Parts of the movie feel like the director was asking “What if Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was a Lovecraftian tale of terror?” and it works incredibly well. The woods themself were dark, lonely, and isolating. The location scouting was just perfect. It had me feeling uneasy and nervous, mixing in the slow paranoia of a “Blair Witch Project” with the monsters of the woods out of “Princess Mononke”. It was slow when it needed to be. It was creepy. It had some blood and guts, but nothing that made me squirm in misery.
If you liked stuff like “Dig Two Graves”, “Helboy: The Crooked Man” or “Bone Tomahawk”, then The Ritual is worth your time.
