As much as I admit to liking cheesy jump scares and sometimes dumb teenager based horror, David Bruckner’s The Ritual is exactly the kind of adult dread jam I was looking for: an unsettling, moody picture that’s both beautifully shot and well acted, all while drenched in a specific atmosphere that I f’n love. 

Utilizing the incredible landscape for some truly beautiful images, Bruckner’s film (based on novel of the same name) mixes elements of things we’ve seen before, executed maturely, confidently, and most importantly—effectively, as vibes reminiscent of (but not riffing on) The Blair Witch Project & The Descent covered in a rural folk-horror blanket of The Witch & The Wicker Man, all framed with a theme of guilt. The Ritual ignores jump scare tactics as our bickering group of men become more toxic as time goes on. This more than satisfied my lurking Deer Monster needs quite nicely and I’ll be revisiting this again soon.

fellas, it is gay to wander into a scary ritual forest with other men? i mean you're basically looking at wood with a bunch of dudes idk it seems kinda spicy to me /:

Erster Langfilm des Episoden- oder Kurzfilm-Könners. Ganz großer Pluspunkt: Hier wird Horror auch mal bei Tage zelebriert. Was anhand dieser so faszinierenden wie schaurigen Waldkulisse auch herrlich sitzt und wirkt. Ebenfalls groß: Die Musik. Über das ein wenig verschleppte Tempo ab der Hälfte und die Auflösung, die die Grundstimmung und -situation etwas zu einfach abhakt, kann man hinwegsehen. Die Auflösung ist nämlich ansonsten eine echt geile und formschöne Idee. Ein Film, der sich gediegen unter die Haut schleicht und Natur-Ängste abruft.

what would happen if The Witch starred LADS LADS LADS

and you expect me to give shit about those men???nah bitch

More like the... shitual

While the performances and dialogue are tight, and the creature itself definitely stands out design-wise, there's nothing here that the likes of Blair Witch Project didn't do more effectively nearly 20 years ago.

They had me till they brought out this obscene goofy ass monster, GG

Ok ew this was actually very creepy

I didn't like this as much as most people did but the monster design is 💯💯💯

Well that’s way better than the trailer made it out to look. Very impressive stuff. Could use more in the plot, maybe a little better if an ending it just seemed very expected and anti climatic. Still a great horror film.

Spooky

A serviceable-at-best monster movie with a genuinely impressive-looking monster.