The Ritual (2017)

The Ritual (2017)

Meh…

The Ritual is still… a relatively failed film! But it’s sickening: after an hour of perfect filmmaking that borders on masterpiece status, the last half hour ruins everything. Once again, this is not unusual! Because we’re starting to get used to all these films that collapse into pathos.

An ultra-violent scene kicks off the film just after a rather interesting conversation. After that, I didn’t know which direction the film was going to take. Horror, detective story? Thriller, definitely!

But was there going to be a hurricane, a serial killer, or an insect invasion? I had no idea, and I let myself get caught up in the game.

The actors are good, their characters quite endearing for a bunch of old friends. I saw the film twice and enjoyed it a little more the second time around. But it’s just not good enough.

Halfway through the film, you think you’re going to get a scary story about witchcraft. But it descends into a film that borders on science fiction and already tarnishes the film’s image. And since it takes place in Sweden, there had to be a god who appeared and had to be sacrificed. At the same time, he’s a god of darkness, since, like vampires, he can’t go towards the light!

LOL!!!!!!!! To think I almost gave this film four or three stars. I had seen Southbound (2015), which was a film with five stories. It was a good film.
This one wasn’t far behind, at first glance, but the more I think about Southbound, the more I feel like I really enjoyed it.

I’m even going to watch the director‘s other films. Simply because I’m a film buff. Not because this director has risen in my estimation. I think he fluctuates a lot in my mind. Because I wasn’t expecting anything from his 2020 film The Night House. But it’s a good film. I mainly watched it for Rebecca Hall. Knowing that this wonderful actress has starred in rubbish like King Kong vs. Godzilla and that she doesn’t have the ability to save a film, even if Scarlett Johansson comes to the rescue in a Woody Allen film that I don’t need to name.

On the other hand, once again, his Hellraiser (2022) is bad.

I’m going to give The Signal (2007) a go, and then I’ll be able to decide whether I like this director after all or whether I’m going to cross him off my list for good. It seems to me that we already know the answer, barring a miracle…