I'm gonna get behind the mythological references made in this trailer in a second, but as a
fair disclaimer, I haven't read the book, so if you have read it, or if you got to see
the film in theaters already, let me know if I was on point at all in the comments.
First I want to point out the setting.
Based off of this billboard, they're in Northern Sweden.
If you pause on this shot of the map you can see that they're cutting through Sareks Nationalpark,
so let's investigate that area.
It was first inhabited by a group of hunter-gatherers known as the Sami, who used these mountains
as places of worship.
One of the mountains was known as Mount Apar and it was believed to house demons and the
ghost of an illegitimate child.
Remember that, because I'm gonna come back to it.
But with that being said, let's approach the rest of the trailer with Norse mythology and
Pagan culture in mind.
At the beginning of the trailer, the characters put together a little ritual of their own
for their deceased friend, Rob.
In Nordic culture, they had a number of places of worship in nature and their holy spaces
were often marked with some kind of landmark.
It could be anything from the base of a mountain to an entire valley to a notable pile of rocks
as we see here.
Sacrifice rituals were a huge part of this culture, especially in relation to births,
marriages and death.
And these rituals often involved the sacrifice of food and drink and the consumption of alcohol.
It's possible that the ritual mentioned in the title of the movie is this ritual; that
these four characters attempting to honor their friend have actually awoken some malevolent
spirit from Norse mythology.
In fact, the people who settled on this land believed in the ability to influence the living
from the land of the dead.
If the rituals were performed correctly they could give their blessings and stuff, but
if done incorrectly, it was believed that dead could haunt the living and bring bad
fortune.
I'd say both of those things are going on in this trailer.
Before I move on, let me emphasize one thing.
I want you to imagine a Nordic celebration in your head.
You're probably imagining a bunch of burly dudes in viking helmets dancing around in
a circle with big frosty beer mugs in hand.
That may be a stereotype, but in reality the consumption of alcohol was instrumental in
these rituals.
This one character does appear to have a drinking problem, but perhaps the constant appearance
of these shelves of alcohol in dreams and hallucinations is actually a sign of something
more.
If you go frame by frame, this is all over the trailer.
That brings us to the first strange thing they come across, which is this cow that is
hanged in the tree and gutted.
Sacrifice rituals known as blót were a huge part of the traditions practiced in Northern
Sweden before the common era.
They would actually hold festivals in which male animals corpses were hung in trees as
a sacrifice to their deities.
That included both wild animals found in the area, and men.
It's quite possible that our main characters have unknowingly walked into a ritual to honor
those Pagan Gods.
There's more evidence to back this up.
This guy they stumble upon seems to be praying to some kind of altar.
These markings seen on the trees match up with the ones on the pole in this shrine,
where we again see a praying figure.
The idol pictured here has goat-like horns and stands up on two legs in a humanoid pose.
Similarly, the cow the they found hanging in the tree was oriented in a way that that
made it appear to be standing on two legs as well.
This is most likely a reference to Fylgja, a mythological Norse spirit that can take
the form of ox, goat and boar, among other animals and is said to mark the transformation
between human and animal.
Fylgja are said to appear during sleep and seeing one is an omen of death.
It would appear that death is indeed in some of these characters' futures just based off
of this trailer.
There are also flashes of that praying figure cut into the trailer elsewhere, but upside
down.
That could possibly play into the whole hanging motif, but we'll have to wait and see.
The creepiest part of the trailer for me was this hand that one of the characters sees
wrapped around a tree in the forest.
If you take a closer look these are pretty thin trees and the hand is actually very small.
Remember how I mentioned that the area was thought to house demons and the ghost of an
illegitimate child?
I think this could be that child.
And one last thing, it seems like they find shelter at some point, and on the shelf right
here, I spotted this hammer that resembles Thor's Hammer, which is regarded as the most
important symbol in all of Norse Mythology.
Not only was it a weapon used to defend the domain of the Gods, but it was also used in
formal declaration ceremonies to bless marriages, births, and funerals, just like the sacrifice
rituals I mentioned earlier.
There's also an excellent song by Equilibrium called Wingthor's Hammer, and on that note,
you'll have to take some of my deductions in this video with a grain of salt, seeing
as how most of what I know about this culture was learned from listening folk metal bands
like Equilibrium and Finntroll, but let me know if this stuff made sense to you.
A lot of people are saying this is just another Blair Witch type movie, but I'm hoping it
will make use of the extensive lineup of Nordic mythological creatures, because some of them
are pretty cool.
If that's something you want to see, let me know by leaving this video a like.
And if you're new here, I'm going to be covering all the best horror films of 2018, as well
as making my own.
So if that's something you want to see, subscribe to CZsWorld for new horrors every week, hammer
that deathbell for notifications and I'll see you in the next one.
Assuming we both survive.