The Ritual (2017 film)
Summary
"They should have gone to Ibiza." A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that's stalking them.
Details
- Release Date: 2017
- Country/Language: UK, English, Swedish
- Genres/Technical: Horror
- Setting: Modern backwoods Sweden
- Runtime: 1 hr 34 min
- Starring: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton, Paul Reid
- Director: David Bruckner
- Writer: Joe Barton, Adam Nevill (novel)
- Producer/Production Co: Andy Serkis, Entertainment One, Imaginarium Productions
- View Trailer: (link) (NSFW)
- TVTropes: (link)
- IMDB Page: (link)
Ratings
MPAA Ratings
- Rated: TV-MA (Violence, Language)
Tentacle Ratings
A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:
- Ss___ (One and a Half Tentacles: Barely Lovecraftian; vaguely similar in tone, could be a very loose adaptation)
The monster is vaguely Lovecraftian, the setting is bleak and isolated, and the film's tone can be somewhat cosmic and hopeless in tone.
Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.
Reviews
Review Links:
- (review needed)
Synopsis (SPOILERS)
Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)
A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest in Sweden as a memorial to a friend who was killed in a liquor store robbery gone wrong, but encounter an ancient, menacing presence in the woods that's stalking them: the monstrous offspring of Loki, a creature that torments its victims with hallucinations and offers immortality to its cultists in exchange for their worship.
Notes
Comments, Trivia, Dedication
- The cultists are worshiping "Moder" - "mother", in English.
- Some of runes in the woods surrounding the cabin say: "property".
- The stone image a cultist is briefly seen praying before is a reproduction of the Kirkby Stephen Stone, which is believed to be a representation of Loki.
Associated Mythos Elements
- fiction: Ritual (fiction)
- race: Ghouls (or, at least, mummified immortal cultists)
- language: Wiccan and Futhark Runes
- deity: "Moder", daughter of Loki
- cult: effectively a Cult of Nyarlathotep
Keeper Notes
- A party of investigators travels through a remote corner of the Scandinavian wilderness to find what happened to a group of backpackers who have disappeared, and discover that they have fallen victim to a cult worshiping an ancient horror, sacrificing travelers and offering their own desperate terror in exchange for immortality.
