Netflix’s The Ritual VFX Breakdown
The Ritual is a 2017 British horror film directed by David Bruckner and written by Joe Barton. The film is based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Adam Nevill
A group of four friends - Phil, Dom, Hutch, and Luke - embark on a hiking trip on Kungsleden (King's Trail) in Sarek National Park, in northern Sweden, to honor their friend Rob, who was killed six months earlier in a convenience store robbery. After Dom falls and injures his knee, Hutch consults the group's map and decides on an alternate route through the woods that will take them half the time. In the woods, the group begins to encounter unexplained phenomena, including a gutted elk and runes carved on trees.
As night falls, they come upon a rundown cabin and stay there overnight. The cabin is mostly empty, but in the attic is a strange wooden effigy, shaped like a human torso without a head, with antlers for hands.
During the night, each of the friends is plagued by nightmares. Luke sustains a strange set of puncture wounds on his chest, while Phil is compelled to pray to the effigy in the attic.
The group leaves the cabin to continue their travels deeper into the woods, trying to find a way out.
Climbing a ridge, Luke sees evidence of a strange creature which may be stalking them. While trying to discuss this with the group, an argument between him and Dom escalates wherein Dom reveals he partially blames Luke for Rob's death, and calls Luke cowardly for not protecting Rob during the robbery.
Later that night, Hutch is taken by the monster, and the friends give chase. They become lost and unable to find their tents and supplies, decide to continue on without them. On the way, they discover Hutch impaled high in a tree, gutted like the deer they found earlier. Retrieving Hutch's body for the compass and his knife, they cover him and press on another day.
Luke walks ahead and spots a village and the edge of the forest, but when he comes back, Phil is taken by the creature and killed. Luke hides with Dom, urging him to run with him. They find Phil's dead body, impaled on a tree, and a path of torches leading to a small village. Seeking shelter, they stumble into a cabin but are knocked unconscious by unseen occupants.
When they awaken, they are restrained in the basement, and one of the residents explains to Luke the creature is a jötunn (a Scandinavian giant/troll on par with gods), and that they provide it sacrifices because the god grants them an extended life for the price of keeping them within the forest to worship it. They are inspected, and Luke is spared because of the puncture marks on his chest. He is told that it means he has been chosen for the rare "honor" of worshiping the monster because of his internal anguish and pain. He must begin a ritual soon wherein he will kneel with them to join their group, or be sacrificed like his friends.
Dom is taken and sacrificed to the creature, impaled on a tree in the forest. Luke, desperate, breaks his thumb to escape and torches a secret room full of moving mummified corpses, killing some of the pagans. When this happens, the creature returns angry, and kills the worshipers as they kneel and plead for mercy. Luke flees, but the monster chases and attacks him, attempting to force him onto his knees to worship it. Luke attacks the creature with an axe from the cabin and flees to the edge of the treeline, where the creature is seemingly unable to follow, trapped within the boundaries of the forest. The monster roars at him as Luke screams back in triumph and agony, before turning to struggle back to civilization.
The Ritual is a 2017 British horror film directed by David Bruckner and written by Joe Barton. The film is based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Adam Nevill
A group of four friends - Phil, Dom, Hutch, and Luke - embark on a hiking trip on Kungsleden (King's Trail) in Sarek National Park, in northern Sweden, to honor their friend Rob, who was killed six months earlier in a convenience store robbery. After Dom falls and injures his knee, Hutch consults the group's map and decides on an alternate route through the woods that will take them half the time. In the woods, the group begins to encounter unexplained phenomena, including a gutted elk and runes carved on trees.
As night falls, they come upon a rundown cabin and stay there overnight. The cabin is mostly empty, but in the attic is a strange wooden effigy, shaped like a human torso without a head, with antlers for hands.
During the night, each of the friends is plagued by nightmares. Luke sustains a strange set of puncture wounds on his chest, while Phil is compelled to pray to the effigy in the attic.
The group leaves the cabin to continue their travels deeper into the woods, trying to find a way out.
Climbing a ridge, Luke sees evidence of a strange creature which may be stalking them. While trying to discuss this with the group, an argument between him and Dom escalates wherein Dom reveals he partially blames Luke for Rob's death, and calls Luke cowardly for not protecting Rob during the robbery.
Later that night, Hutch is taken by the monster, and the friends give chase. They become lost and unable to find their tents and supplies, decide to continue on without them. On the way, they discover Hutch impaled high in a tree, gutted like the deer they found earlier. Retrieving Hutch's body for the compass and his knife, they cover him and press on another day.
Luke walks ahead and spots a village and the edge of the forest, but when he comes back, Phil is taken by the creature and killed. Luke hides with Dom, urging him to run with him. They find Phil's dead body, impaled on a tree, and a path of torches leading to a small village. Seeking shelter, they stumble into a cabin but are knocked unconscious by unseen occupants.
Dom is taken and sacrificed to the creature, impaled on a tree in the forest. Luke, desperate, breaks his thumb to escape and torches a secret room full of moving mummified corpses, killing some of the pagans. When this happens, the creature returns angry, and kills the worshipers as they kneel and plead for mercy. Luke flees, but the monster chases and attacks him, attempting to force him onto his knees to worship it. Luke attacks the creature with an axe from the cabin and flees to the edge of the treeline, where the creature is seemingly unable to follow, trapped within the boundaries of the forest. The monster roars at him as Luke screams back in triumph and agony, before turning to struggle back to civilization.