The Ritual
The Ritual
A group of friends reunite after a long time to plan a vacation. They finally decide to go on a hiking trip in Sweden, Northern Europe. When one of them is injured, they have no choice but to cut through the forest in order to arrive at the lodge a couple of hours sooner. During a raging rainstorm, they spent the night in a spooky, abandoned house. What awaits them are things they never expect out of this supposedly bonding trip.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 2, 2025
Chilling creature design in this impressive backwoods supernatural thriller. When a man is killed in a convenience store robbery, his buddies go on a backpacking trip to sort of commemorate his passing. Things don’t necessarily go as planned and they find themselves lost in the woods with a presence haunting them, and possibly hunting them. One of the friends is wracked with guilt over failing to act during the deadly robbery. Tackles familiar horror themes of grief and guilt manifesting itself as a supernatural horror of some kind. There are some interesting nightmare sequences that blend/transition the backwoods setting with the convenience store. I don’t necessarily think the metaphor 100% works thematically, but it’s a pretty damn fun film. Really love the creature and liked this on the whole a bit more than The Night House. Nitpick: When you’re camping and your bro unexpectedly walks in on you, buck naked and praying to a weird wooden figure, that’s not something you casually bring up with all your buddies the next morning. That is some sh🤩 you just take to your grave.