Storyline
The ritual is a horror film based in Sweden, four friends decide to go hiking there after the untimely death of their friend in a mugging. They choose to do this in a way to honour the friend that passed. Whilst hiking one of the friends hurts his knee, leading the group to decide to try and cut straight through the forest instead of following the trail. During this time they find mysterious cases of gutted animals like elk strung from the high branches of the trees, not long after this they decide to take shelter from heavy rainfall in a cabin they discover.
Whilst exploring the cabin they find a horrific statue made from the mutilated and decapitated corpse of a person with antlers and twigs. When they sleep that night they all seem to have shared nightmares and when they awake they come to find one of the group naked and praying in front of the statue. After deciding staying at the cabin won’t be a good idea the group sets off again, with one of the quartet spotting a large figure in the distance.
Later that night after setting up tents and falling asleep, the group has another nightmare, soon to be woken up by the screams of one of their friends. Leaving their tents the remaining three find their friends tent empty and destroyed. In a state of panic the three get lost in the dark trying to find their missing friend. When it becomes morning and the group tries to find their lost supplies, they end up stumbling across the body of their missing friend gutted and stung up in the trees like the animals they had seen before.
After managing to take down the destroyed body, the trio gives their friend a burial and they move on. Unfortunately not long after another of the group is dragged away by the unseen creature, and when the final two realise this creature has been stalking them, they try to run. As they attempt to run from the creature they start following a path that leads to a forest village, and after entering the nearest house are knocked unconscious.
When the two awake they are tied in the basement and are visited by an old lady. When she leaves she orders for one the two to be taken upstairs. Not long after a younger lady enters and explains to the remaining man that the people are preparing for sacrifice. At some point later on the friend that was taken is returned beaten and bruised and announces that he will be sacrificed to the creature that massacred their friends. He urges his friend to escape and burn the village before he ends up being sacrificed as well.
The final friend manages to escape his restraints as the other is tied for sacrifice. When the creature arrives the man hallucinates it as his wife until he is picked up and strung among the trees. When the younger lady returns, the last of the group asks what the creature could possibly be and she explains that it is a child of loki and her cult provides its sacrifices in order to be immortal.
When yet again this woman leaves, the man escapes the basement and, using a lit torch, sets fire to the village. Attracting the creature. As it kills the young woman, he manages to find a hunting rifle and in his escape has to kill one of the cultists. After doing so he takes the cultists axe. The creature becomes enraged as the man shoots at it to be able to escape. In its pursuit it plagues his mind with hallucinations and ends up offering him a chance at retribution. He refuses as he hits it with the axe, managing to slow it down as he fully escapes the forest.
My opinions
This film is one of my favourite horror movies to this day. Originally I had read the book the film adaptation was based on, this book is still one of my favourites to this day. The suspense and build up during the movie was incredible, making you worried that anything could happen at every turn. This and the lack of any narration, as well as its lack of dialogue before explosive arguments, create a captivating and almost artist piece. Even as a horror film it has a compelling story line and a unique way of propelling its story forward, even in the way it sets up the backstory with the use of the nightmares.
With all of this the design of the creature is equally as impressive, the use of human features to help make it look like an animal, as well as the fact its human appendages are fully functional are honestly horrifying. Being able to get the full look of the hybrid creature instills a terror like no other, as your mind races to come up with solutions to explain how it could possibly come to being.
The design and look of this creature influenced my design quite a bit. Giving me the push to create a gory creature based on horror, to push me a little out of my comfort zone.
Level 3 UAL Diploma Performing and Production Arts 