The Ritual (2017 film)
The Ritual (2017 film)
Following its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September, The Ritual was released by eOne in the United Kingdom on 13 October.
Plot
At night, a torrential rainstorm forces them to take shelter in an abandoned cabin. They find necklaces bearing similar symbols and an effigy of a decapitated human torso made of twigs, with antlers for hands. During the night, Luke has a nightmare about the robbery. The next morning, they awake to find Luke's chest bleeding from puncture wounds, Hutch screaming in terror and having wet himself, a catatonic Dom screaming for his wife Gayle, and a naked Phil praying to the effigy. Disturbed, the group tries to leave the woods through a side trail not shown on the map, despite Luke's protests. While discerning their location, Luke spots a large figure amongst the trees, but Dom doubts him. In their ensuing argument, Luke claims they wouldn't be in the forest if it weren't for Dom and Dom calls Luke a coward for letting Rob die.
Plot
Luke and Dom awake to find themselves restrained in a basement. An elderly woman inspects Luke's chest wounds, revealing she bears a similar marking. Two men drag Dom upstairs and later return him, beaten and bruised, to the basement. Dom says he will be sacrificed to the creature and urges Luke to flee. Later, while Dom is tied up outside by the townsfolk, Luke begins freeing himself from the restraints. Amidst the ritual, Dom hallucinates his wife emerging from the forest, only to realize it is the creature as it picks him up and impales him on a nearby tree.