Skip to main content

Netflix's horror flick 'The Ritual' is creepy and moody but a one-time watch



Deep, dark woods and a cabin inside have been among the most recurring horror movie tropes from time immemorial(try streaming slasher flicks like Friday the 13th and its sequels) . And there will be a group, mostly couples, who go camping inside the woods. The Ritual(2017) incorporates all the above tropes into its plot albeit with a difference: it's an all-male group.



The Ritual is a British horror film distributed by Netflix. At the core, the movie directed by David Bruckner, is about male friendship. And the consequences of not standing up for your friends when the situation demands. Four friends-- Phil, Dome, Hutch and Luke--go hiking in the mountains of Sweden.

They go hiking in Sweden not to enjoy the vacations. They want to honor the final wish of their murdered friend Rob. Among the four Luke, played by Rafe Spall, seems not okay. He appears like lost in thought, or brooding. 

Luke carries within him the pain of guilt. He was there with Rob in a pub when he was killed by robbers. However, Luke didn't offer any help to save his friend. This feeling of intense guilt gives Luke nightmares.

While returning from hiking in Sweden's mountains, the group take a shortcut through the woods. The woods conceal a dark force, a monster, which kills Phil and Hutch. Rob and Luke run for their life.

The Ritual is a well-directed film and is creepy and moody. It is about male bonding, guilt, witchcraft and cult worship. It has everything to elevate itself to the club of great horror movie but something is missing. May be it's tried too much for perfection and ended up missing life. 

On a personal note I liked the performance of the actors, especially Rafe Spall's. I know Spall from the movies of Edgar Wright. Rafe Spall was in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. He played author Yann Martel in Life of Pi. So it was a pleasure to watch him as the leading man of The Ritual.

Rafe Spall in The Ritual is perfect as the brooding Luke

The Ritual is streaming on Netflix. Though not a masterpiece, it is definitely one of the good horror movies currently streaming on Netflix. Ready to go hiking in Sweden?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How did James Franco's viral 'First Time? Meme' originate?

Those who are yet to see Coen Brothers' ' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs ' must be the ones who Google to know from where did the 'First Time?' meme featuring James Franco come from. The meme features James Franco as a cowboy outlaw about to be hanged. He has a noose around his neck. He's not alone there are other convicts in similar fate. An old guy who also has a noose around his neck starts crying. Franco goes to a bank to rob it Franco asks him casually : "First Time, huh?" This is because Franco had been convicted for hanging earlier in the bank for attempting to rob a bank. At the time of his execution, Comanche warriors storm into the place and kill his executioners and Franco escapes. Read a review of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs here: Netflix's The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: Coen Brothers laugh at Death in this little classic
Post a Comment
Read more

Everything You Wanted to Know about James Cameron’s Spider-Man Movie

By Sreejith Kamalanayanan  I am a huge fan of the original Spider-Man franchise helmed by legendary horror maestro Sam Raimi. But little did I know that the idea for the Spider-verse was first born in the creative mind of Avatar director James Cameron. The Titanic director was not only the first one to pitch the idea to turn the Spiderman comic into a Hollywood feature, but he crafted a script treatment for the movie which is now known as the James Cameron’s Spider-Man Scriptment. James Cameron’s Spiderman Scriptment never got made into a Hollywood movie, but some key elements of the treatment got into Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie, which hit the screens in 2002. Here is everything you need to know about Jame’s Cameron’s Spider-Man movie that was never made... Cameron’s Spider-Man was pitched to Terminator 2 Makers James Cameron had pitched his version of Spider-Man movie to Carolco, the company that produced his blockbuster film Terminator 2. This means we would have got to see Ja...
Post a Comment
Read more

The American: A Carefully Crafted Assassin Film

The opening sequence of George Clooney ’s 2010 assassin film The American is shocking but interesting. We see a couple, Clooney and Irina Bjorklund , relaxing after a love-making session. The brooding Clooney is sitting on the floor; a naked Irina Bjorklund caresses his body while laying on the bed.  This set-up is interesting as it leaves no clue about the genre of the film. An ordinary moviegoer would easily guess it as a romantic movie, provided he or she hasn’t googled The American. The couple goes out and gets attacked by two snipers, whom the beautiful Irina confuses as hunters. Clooney’s girlfriend gets shocked when he kills two of his attackers with his gun. While killing his attackers Clooney’s character Jack displays the adeptness of a seasoned contract killer. It is only at this moment that we realise that The American is an assassin film. After killing the hunters, Jack kills his girlfriend, maybe to protect his identity as a gunsmith and a professional assassin. A gr...
Post a Comment
Read more