The Ritual (2017) Hey what's up guys. Today I'll
show you a horror-mystery film: "The Ritual"! Spoiler ahead, watch out and take care!
The movie begins in a crowded pub, where five male friends discuss their vacation
destination. Several countries like Germany and Spain, are suggested. One of the friends,
Rob, suggests they go hiking in Sweden. But none of the other friends like the idea.
The five friends exit the bar. Rob continues telling them about the famous hiking trail in
Sweden. Luke interrupts the conversation, to announce that he will go to the store
across the street for more liquor. Rob goes to the store with him. Inside,
Luke complains that their friends have all become downers, ever since they got married and had kids
of their own. No one wants to have fun anymore as they used to when they were younger. Suddenly,
they notice that there's a scared woman, cowering near the counter. She silently shakes in fear. The
door to the storeroom flies open, and two robbers step out. The first robber pushes around the store
attendant, and demands that he give them more money. Luke hides behind one of the aisles,
while Rob is left standing. Luke contemplates attacking the robbers with the glass bottle he is
holding; but he gets scared, and just continues to hide. Meanwhile, the first robber sees Rob,
and asks for his wallet. Rob complies. But when the first robber asks for his wedding rings,
he refuses. The second robber screams at the first robber to take the ring off his hand.
Rob still refuses. So The first robber kills him with two strikes of his blade as Luke watches.
Six months later after the tragedy, Luke awakens in Northern Sweden. He and the remaining four
friends are embarking on the very same hiking trail that Rob had suggested. They will be
spending two nights there in Rob's memory. They walk along the mountain trail, until they
reach the tip. The view is very beautiful. On a stone outcropping, they place a picture of Rob and
a few mementos they had of him. Hutch comments that Rob should never have died like that,
but he still did. He opens a flash, and they all take a swig before Hutch pours the rest on
the ground, in honor of their lost friend. He then puts the empty flash on the stone.
As night falls, the groups set up camp in the same place. Luke has been noticeably
quiet the whole trip. The death of his friend and his decision to hide has weighed heavily
on him. Hutch approaches him, and says that Rob's death wasn't his fault.
The next morning, there is a strong downpour. They quickly gather their
belongings and depart. They do not notice that the flask no longer has a lid.
While walking, Dom trips, and sprains his leg. He hobbles around, and screams that it's so painful.
Hutch says that they have a 14-hour walk ahead of them, and Dom replies that there is no way
he would be able to walk with a sprained leg. Hutch gets the idea that they can cut through
the forest, and shorten their travel time. But Luke thinks it's better if he and Hutch
just leave their two friends on the mountain with their supplies, and then just come back with help,
so they can carry Dom. However, Dom chimes in that he doesn't want to be left behind,
and if there's a quicker route, he can walk. So the four friends enter the dark forest. At the
edge, there is an abandoned camper van. Hutch leads the way by using his compass. As the
hours go by, the friends entertain themselves, by discussing what meal they would like to eat.
Suddenly, they see a gutted elk's body strung up among the trees,
and its innards spilled on the forest floor. The blood is still fresh, so whoever or whatever did
that to the elk is probably still around. The night grows darker, and they still haven't
made their way out of the forest. Rain begins to pour, and Hutch suggests that they pitch
their tents, and stay there for the night. Luke shines his flashlight on a tree, and points out
that there is a weird symbol carved on it. The group also finds an abandoned cabin in the
middle of the woods. Since the rain shows no sign of stopping,
they decide to sleep there. As Luke is about to step inside, he hears the howls of a dog.
The cabin is dark and decrepit. More of the strange symbols are hung up inside. There is
also an old shotgun in the living room. In the attic, they find a headless statue of a
human, made out of twigs with deer antlers for hands. The fourth friend, Phil, remarks that
it's witchcraft. Even though they are creeped out, they still decide to just shake the fear off.
They go downstairs, and huddle in front of the fire they created. Luke suggests
that in the morning, they just return the way they came, and go back through the
main trail. But Hutch is resolved that they can still continue through the woods.
The friends go to sleep. Roars and growls continue to echo through the night,
and Luke remains awake. Suddenly, everything freezes. He stands up, and realizes that even
his friends are frozen too. When he opens the door, he is back in the store. Surprisingly,
He has gone back in time to the moment that Rob dies. The aisle suddenly collapses,
and now Luke is in the woods, and there are puncture marks on his chest. He finally wakes up,
and sees that he really is in the woods. He goes back to the house, and wakes up Hutch, who has
had a terrible nightmare too. It was so bad that he peed his pants. Luke successfully calms Hutch
down. But Dom is also huddled in another corner, and screaming his wife's name. He also tries to
wake him up. He realizes that Phil is missing, and his clothes are lying on the floor.
Luke finds Phil in the attic. He is naked and kneeling in front of the headless statue. He is
praying, and there are scratches all over his body. Phil wakes up, and is horrified at what
he had done in his sleep. The group quickly grabs their belongings, and leaves the cabin.
When they step outside, they see that more pagan symbols were carved on the trees last night. They
think that they might be a warning. Now very terrified, Dom sees a path,
and decides to take it, even though Hutch is pointing in another direction. But the group
just follows Dom along the path to the forest, hoping that the path will lead them out.
While walking, Phil brings up their experiences last night. But Hutch does not want to discuss it,
and chalks it up to them just having nightmares. But Phil asserts that something strange happened
to them, because he would never have done what he did last night. Dom spies some short steel
columns along the path, and excitedly announces that they are closer to civilization now.
They see another cabin; but they just ignore it, and continue along the path. Dom eventually gets
tired. Hutch tells him that he just needs to bear the pain better, so they can pick up the
pace. Dom gets enraged at Hutch's attitude. Luke decides to go to the nearby bridge,
so he can see where they are now. But he just ends up wading deeper into the woods. He sees
a large figure moving behind the trees, and he runs back to where his friends are.
Luke is now starting to believe that something otherworldly is stalking them. He shows his
friends the puncture marks on his chest. Dom scoffs, and tells him that he must have walked
into a tree. He adds that he doesn't trust Luke's judgment, and they wouldn't be in Sweden at all if
not for him, implying that it was his fault that caused Rob to die. Luke gets mad and pushes Dom.
Dom calls him a coward for not standing up for him, and letting him die. Luke declares that he
will no longer be friends with him. Dom shoots back that Rob had his skull cracked in half,
and Luke emerged from the accident without even a drop of blood on him, because he was a coward.
Luke punches him in the nose, and storms out. Hutch follows Luke. Luke asks him if he also
believes he was a coward, and Hutch answers that he honestly doesn't know. Luke just soldiers on,
and continues down the path while the three follow.
Sometime later, they see something buried in the ground. They uncover the layer of soil,
and discover that it's a tent and a pair of shoes. There is also a wallet with a family picture in
it, and a credit card that was dated back to 1984. The reality sets in for the group, and
they begin to believe that they will never make it out alive. Hutch tries to cheer them up, by saying
that authorities will come for them soon. They set up their tents in the woods for the
night. Hutch takes Luke aside, and tells him that Dom's knee is not getting better,
and Phil is not looking good either. He tells Luke that since he is the strongest, he should try to
make it out tomorrow morning while Hutch and the others stay behind. Luke reluctantly agrees.
That night, Luke has another nightmare about Rob's death. He is woken up by
Phil's screams. He discovers that Hutch is missing. Phil tells him that he saw shadows,
and they took Hutch. Hutch screams in the distance, and a creature roars loudly.
When dawn comes, they discover Hutch's body impaled on a tree. He had been gutted like
the elk they see. After their initial shock, they manage to give him a haphazard burial. Phil is now
convinced that a monster is stalking them. Dom and Phil are completely falling apart. Luke
assumes the role of the leader, and he tries to uplift their spirits. He leads them back to the
path, and they continue on in the same direction that Hutch told them to.
Night falls again. They can no longer find their campsite, and they have no supplies
left. Suddenly, Phil is dragged away by the unseen creature. Luke gets another vision
of the night that Rob died. He snaps back to reality when he hears the creature's roar.
Dom and Luke hide behind a tree. The two decide to make a run for it. They rush through the forest,
with the creature at their heels. They then find a path lined with torches,
and Phil's body impaled on a nearby tree. Luckily,
they see a cottage at the end of the path. They rush inside, and are knocked unconscious.
Sometime later, Luke wakes up in the attic of the cottage with Dom. They are both tied up. Loud
growls reverberate through the house. Luke manages to peek through the slits of the cabin, and sees
that several villagers are outside. They are preparing wooden logs for an altar of sorts.
The door opens, and an old woman walks in, carrying a pitcher and a bowl. She makes
Luke drink from the pitcher. She also lowers his shirt to inspect the wounds on his chest. The old
woman then reveals that she has similar wounds on her chest. She orders two men
to carry Dom outside. Luke can hear the loud growls of the creature and Dom's screams.
A younger woman walks in, and tells Luke that they are preparing for a sacrifice. Hours later,
the men return to the attic with Dom. His face is all beat up and bloodied. Luke asks if he is
okay. Dom reveals that in his nightmare, he saw that the people sacrificed him to the monster.
He also saw his wife in his nightmare. With a cold voice, he tells Luke that he is fated to
die there. But Luke can still escape. He orders his friend to run and live.
When morning comes, the men arrive to take Dom. They place him on the altar they built,
and start chanting to the monster. Meanwhile, Luke struggles to free himself
from his binds. He dislocates his thumb, so he can partially free himself.
When night comes, the creature emerges from the edge of the forest. It then transforms
into Dom's wife to placate him. It is too late when Dom realizes that the creature is
leading him to a tree. It impales him on its branches, and kills him.
The younger woman arrives. She reveals that her village worships an ancient god that
grants them immortality, in exchange for blood sacrifice. Luke has been chosen to join them,
because they recognize that he bears great pain from his life experiences. That night,
they will present Luke to the monster, and he will have to kneel before it, or else he will die.
The young woman leaves. Luke frees himself from his bindings, and stealthily walks downstairs.
He grabs a torch, and finds several mummified worshippers chanting to their god. These are
the villagers, who have been granted immortality by the god. Their bodies have already calcified,
but they are all still alive. Luke decides to set them on fire with the torch.
The fire attracts the monster, and it kills the young woman. Meanwhile,
Luke finds a hunting rifle in the cabin. He encounters a follower and kills him. Luke
also grabs an ax. He runs outside, and manages to take a shot at the creature from a distance.
He then runs into the woods. But the monster causes him to hallucinate that he is back in
the store where Rob died. The monster catches him, and forces him to his knees in submission.
But Luke thinks of his dead friend, and how he had made the mistake of being a coward
that night. He no longer wants to make the same mistake. So Luke stands up, and whacks
the monster with an ax, but not his ass! He then runs as fast as he can. He exits the
forest, and reaches the ridge. Apparently, the monster cannot leave the forest,
so it is forced to watch as Luke escapes. As the morning comes, Luke climbs up a mountain.
The movie ends with him finally reaching a paved road with a car approaching.
This's Daniel CC movie channel! Stay safe and enjoy your day!