In today’s video we are going to recap a Mystery Thriller of 2017, The Ritual, where
a group of middle-aged friends reunite for a trip to a forest in Sweden but encounter
a menacing presence that begins stalking them.
Spoilers ahead! You have been warned. Before we get into the video, please give it a like
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Phil, Dom, Hutch, Luke, and Rob are college friends who reunite to go on a trip together.
At the beginning of the movie, we see the group in a pub drinking. They discuss several
holiday destinations, but Luke doesn't like any of them. Rob then suggests going on a
hike in the mountains of Sweden. Luke is still skeptical of the idea, but the rest of the
group are interested.
They get out of the pub when Luke suggests buying alcohol. He convinces Rob to come with
him to the store. As they pick one, Luke notices a woman whimpering in the corner. Two burglars
are trying to rob the store. Luke quickly hides behind an aisle, but the robbers notice
Rob. They take his wallet and watch. Rob refuses to hand them his wedding ring. Meanwhile,
Luke thinks of helping his friend but is too scared to do it. The burglars hit Rob on his
head and run away, leaving him bloodied on the floor. He dies in the incident.
Six months later, the rest of the group is in the mountains of Northern Sweden. They
are hiking for three days through the mountains. They set off for the day in the morning. Hutch
has the map and navigates them through the mountains. When they reach the top of the
hill, they set up Rob’s picture and light candles in his memory. They also share a bottle
of alcohol and drop some on the ground for the dead friend. That night, Phil assures
Luke that Rob’s death was not his fault.
The next morning, it rains heavily, but they still set out for the day. As they are walking
down the hill, Dom falls and hurts his knee. The group helps him up, but he cannot walk
now. Their destination is still fourteen hours away. Hutch suggests a quicker route, but
it is through the forest. Luke is not fond of the idea but agrees when Dom insists. They
eventually enter the woods, not knowing what's about to come for them. After walking for
a while, Dom complains about the forest being too quiet. He gets tired, so the group has
to stop. They take pictures for memories.
A few more hours into walking, the group is startled to see a gutted elk hanging from
a tree. They examine it for some time. It is still bleeding, which means it's a fresh
kill. With nothing much to do with that information, they resume their hike. At night, it starts
raining heavily again.
Hutch suggests they pitch the tents and stay there for the night. Just then Luke notices
strange symbols carved into a tree. While examining it, they also see a deserted house
nearby. They decide to stay there for the night. The chains of symbols from the tree
are hanging from the ceiling.
They inspect the house and see stairs leading to a second floor. Phil goes up to see what
is in there when the guys hear him scream. All of them go upstairs to see a human-like
statue made of twigs with antlers for hands and no head. The group is beyond surprised.
Hutch suggests it’s witchcraft. When they get down again, Luke suggests they go out
of the forest and back to the initial trail, but the others do not want to get a day behind
so they sleep there for the night.
At midnight, a very bright light shines on Luke’s face through the windows. He goes
out to examine it. However, when he opens the door, he is back in the store where Rob
died. He comes back to his senses when he hears Hutch screaming. Quickly rushing into
the house, he sees Hutch shouting in his dreams and wakes him up. Dom is in the corner of
the room looking like he is having a bad dream too. Luke helps him as well. But Phil is nowhere
to be found. He then notices his sleeping bags on the stairs and goes up to see Phil
kneeling in front of the statue. Luke wakes him up. They quickly grab their belongings
and rush out of the house.
As they go out, they notice that every tree around has the same symbols. Phil says that
the symbols are a warning that they should not be there. Dom notices a trail by the house.
Since the trail could lead to civilization, they decide to walk along it. Some hours later,
they see another house in the woods. This time, they ignore it. Dom picks a fight with
Luke and blames him for Rob’s death. They finally calm down and decide to camp there
for the night.
At night, Luke again dreams of Rob’s death. He looks out of his tent to see the same store
but as he turns around, he sees Hutch’s tent fly away. This wakes him up. Phil is
screaming outside. Luke wakes him and Dom from their dreams, but Hutch is missing. They
hear his screams from somewhere far and run after him. However, they cannot go further
away because they don’t have their belongings. The next morning they set out to look for
Hutch again. They are on their way when suddenly Luke sees Hutch’s body gutted and hanging
from the trees like the elk earlier.
The group is terrified, but some manage to bring his body to the ground. They take the
compass from his pockets and decide to leave him there. Dom covers the corpse with sticks,
and the group continues the journey. They plan to go southwest until they get out of
the forest. As they are walking, they come across a narrow water stream. The group stops
to fetch some water when they notice footprints going along the stream. They are too scared
to follow it.
They continue moving southwest. After some time, Dom and Phil are too tired to move forward.
Luke goes further ahead and sees that the end of the trail is near. He calls the other
two but they don’t answer. Luke goes back to check on them and sees Phil with his torchlight
looking for something.
Before Luke can say anything else, something drags Phil away. After a few seconds, they
can only see the light from his torch. Luke runs after him but accidentally hits his head
on a tree. He is on the ground with a bloodied head and looks around to see he is in the
same store with Rob again. This time he knows it is an illusion, so he attempts to run out
of the store. Hutch, Dom, and Phil are outside. Phil shines his torchlight on Luke’s face,
and he comes out of the dream.
In front of him is Phil’s torchlight that he dropped while being dragged. He picks it
up and looks around, calling for his friends. Suddenly something rumbled from right beside
him. Terrified, he runs back to where they had stopped earlier, but the rumbling follows
him. He sees a scared Dom hiding behind a tree and approaches him. Now, only the two
of them are left. Luke assures Dom that he has found a way out. They plan to run as fast
as they can. However, the rumbling follows them.
They stop to check what it is but rush again when the rumbling gets louder. As they do,
they come across a lit path. They turn around to see Phil hanging from a tree like Hutch
was before. But they do not have enough time to assist him. They run away from the rumbling
along the path and reach a house. Quickly, they get inside and lock the doors. They are
not alone in the house. Luke’s vision is hazy, but he notices someone sitting in front
of a fire. Before he can look further, someone hits him, and everything goes black.
Luke wakes up to Dom calling his name. He is tied to the ground. As he tries to move,
Luke notices that his hands are tied too. They hear a rumbling from upstairs. Luke somehow
creates a hole in the wooden wall and sees several people outside. They are building
something. Dom tries to get a glass from the table to cut the ropes, but before he can,
two people enter the house. From behind them comes an old lady. She feeds Luke water from
a mug. She then moves to Dom but doesn’t give him the water. Instead, she orders the
guys to bring Dom upstairs in a strange language. They untie him and drag him upstairs as he
screams for help. Luke cannot do anything to help his friend.
Luke hears Dom screaming in pain and fear from downstairs and cries for them to leave
him. Another young girl comes to Luke with a lantern. She tells him that they are preparing
for a sacrifice and that this will be over soon. After some time, they bring Dom back
and tie him again. He is injured and bloodied. Luke asks him if he is okay. To which Dom
starts telling him about his nightmares. He says that in them, he sees dead hands offering
him to the statue. He also sees his wife, Gayle. Dom is sure he is going to die here,
so he tells Luke to run away without him. Next, the people take Dom outside. Luke watches
them tie him to a wooden pole through the hole.
Night falls, and Dom is still tied to the pole while the people surround him. Luke,
on the other hand, tries to break his hands free from the chains. Suddenly a beast rumbles
from the forest. Everyone bows down to it. They present Dom as an offering to him. Meanwhile,
Luke dislocates his thumb and frees one of his hands. Dom envisions his wife Gayle coming
out of the forest. When she comes near him, he realizes that it's not Gayle but a beast-like
creature. Luke sees the creature picking Dom up and dragging him into the woods. It then
impales him on a tree, killing him.
Later, the young girl from earlier comes to Luke and tells him that the creature is called
Jötunn. It is an ancient god-like entity. Their cult sacrifices people to Jötunn in
turn of happiness and immortality. She also tells him that he has been chosen to either
be added to the cult or to be sacrificed.
If he kneels down in front of the entity, he will have to worship him forever, but if
he doesn't, he will die like his friends. After she leaves, Luke frees himself completely
and goes upstairs. There he sees mummified worshippers kneeling in front of a statue.
The worshippers start moving around and making noises. He lights them on fire, burning the
whole house down. As he rushes downstairs, the old woman blocks his way, but he punches
her, knocking her out. He then finds a rifle and runs out of the house with it.
On his way out, he shoots a follower. The entity Jötunn, however, is extremely angered.
Luke takes one of the other followers' axes and opens the door to see Jötunn in front
of him. He goes back and runs outside through another way. When he is out, he sees the creature
killing the young woman from earlier. Luke shoots it and runs away, only to be chased
by it. The beast makes Luke hallucinate Rob’s death again and finally catches him. As it
is about to kill him, Luke bows to him on his knees. This stops the creature. But Luke
plans to get the ax that fell earlier and attacks him.
As he does that, the creature is surprised and injured. Taking the chance, Luke runs
away from it and gets out of the forest before it can catch him again. He screams back at
the creature and celebrates his victory. The movie ends as Luke finally gets back to their
original trail.
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