The Ritual

The Ritual follows a group of men who, after losing a close friend to a violent store robbery encounter, decide to go hiking in the woods in his honour.

The film take a sharp Blair Witch-like supernatural turn as the men are subjected to paranormal experiences and witness satanic-like sacrifices strung up in the trees and a strange wicker man.

They become lost and underlying tensions between the men begin to surface. It's not even an overly gorey film but it just still didn't feel like enough. The supernatural elements weren't even very gripping. The group also feel like a cheap rip off of Deliverence, lacking real depth of character or relationships.

The story line is very simple and you can probably tell by the shortness of this review the amount of time you should take on this film. It was apparently adapted from a novel which I must note I have not read, so I'm unsure if this is simply a poor adaptation or if the stroys flatlines on both ends.

Don't waste your time.

4/10

Screenshots taken by me.