History Film / TheRitual

* ArmorPiercingResponse: During Luke and Dom's heated exchange about halfway through the film, Luke says to Dom that the group "wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you." Dom responds with "no, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for *you*!" implying that Luke's failure to act in the liquor store resulted in Rob's death. The argument turns physical soon after that line.

** [[spoiler:Despite the stress, horror, and exhaustion of the situation, the remaining friends to the best they can by Hutch after discovering his mutilated body, taking him down from the trees and covering him in branches.]]

* CaughtUpInARobbery: The film opens with Robert and Luke getting caught up in a robbery at an off-licence (liquor store) after leaving their friends at the pub. Luke hides, while Robert is caught and the robbers attempt to take his wedding ring, slitting his throat when he refuses to hand it over. This is also the IncitingIncident for the group's trip to Sweden.

* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: One shot holds on the group as they trek up a hill. [[spoiler: Moder blends in with the trees so well that you only notice her once she steps out of view, offering only a brief glimpse of...''something''. The fact that it happens [[DaylightHorror in broad daylight]] makes it even worse.]]

%%* DontGoInTheWoods: The whole premise of the film.

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%%* FinalBoy: [[spoiler: Luke.]]

** Dom. While [[JerkassWoobie some of his behavior might be justified]], he is extremely antagonistic through the whole movie, being the one to vocally blame Luke for not being able to prevent Rob's death (even though there was nothing he could realistically do besides getting killed himself), and ignoring the fact that if he, Phil and Hutch had accompanied Rob like luke did they could have helped. He also spends his time complaining about the whole trip (long before getting injured) and talking about how he wanted to go to Vegas and the woman he could find there, despite being married. After the first day through the wood turns nightmarish, he refuses to cooperate with the others or even discuss, sprinting through the first path he sees, which ends up leading them to the village and to their doom for good.

** Dom. While [[JerkassWoobie some of his behavior might be justified]], he is extremely antagonistic through the whole movie, being the one to vocally blame Luke for not being able to prevent Rob's death (even though there was nothing he could realistically do besides getting killed himself), and ignoring the fact that if he, John and Hutch had accompanied Rob like luke did they could have helped. He also spends his time complaining about the whole trip (long before getting injured) and talking about how he wanted to go to Vegas and the woman he could find there, despite being married. After the first day through the wood turns nightmarish, he refuses to cooperate with the others or even discuss, sprinting through the first path he sees, which ends up leading them to the village and to their doom for good.

* TooDumbToLive: If Robert had simply given his wedding ring to the robbers in the liquor store like they asked, he wouldn't have had his throat cut.

* FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter: [[spoiler: Moder spends most of her time walk on all fours like an animal; however, near the end, she stands bipedally in a distinctly human fashion]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Luke manages to get out of the forest alive and burns down the village sacrificing people to Moder for good measure, and it's implied that he makes peace with the guilt he feels over Robert's death. However, he's the only one who made it out alive due to Phil, Hutch and Dom and Moder is also still very much alive in the forest. Though given she seems trapped in the woods and Luke despite being wounded and alone was able to injure her with a mundane weapon, if the authorities investigate the circumstances the woods and the monster could soon be destroyed.]]

* LovecraftLite: Ostensibly, WordOfGod says that Moder was inspired by [[spoiler: Yhoundeh; The Elk Goddess, purported wife of Nylarthotep]], [[spoiler: Shub-Niggurath; Black Goat of the woods]] or some combination of the two.

* AgeWithoutYouth: [[spoiler: The creature grants its followers an extended life and immortality, but they still continue to age, with the living mummified bodies kept in the small room Luke stumbles upon apparently being the oldest[=/=]original worshippers.]]

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: It's hard to feel any sympathy for the villagers as they get slaughtered by the monster, given that they've been sacrificing people to it in exchange for immortality, and it's implied that they've been doing this for years.]]

* BadBoss: [[spoiler: Even the creature’s own followers aren’t safe from its wrath when they fail to protect the mummified bodies of the older followers.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Luke manages to get out of the forest alive and burns down the village sacrificing people to the monster for good measure, and it's implied that he makes peace with the guilt he feels over Robert's death. However, he's the only one who made it out alive due to Phil, Hutch and Dom and the monster is also still very much alive in the forest. Though given it seems trapped in the woods and Luke despite being wounded and alone was able to injure it with a mundane weapon, if the authorities investigate the circumstances the woods and the monster could soon be destroyed.]]
* BlackSpeech: Appropriate for [[spoiler:the bastard child of an Elder God]].

* DeadGuyOnDisplay: [[spoiler:The creature's victims have been impaled on tree branches, and the villagers don't take their sacrifices down, leaving them hanging from the branches (presumably out of fear of angering the creature).]]

* EldritchAbomination: The monster in the film is physically terrifying and is capable of [[MindRape making people relive their worst memories]] and its motives are never made clear. To truly emphasize its otherworldliness, it is said that the monster is the child of Loki, the Norse trickster god.

* EyeScream: The creature plucks out [[spoiler: the eyes of one of the villagers, though whether that's for allowing the mummified worshipers to burn or for daring to look upon Moder is unclear.]]
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:Subverted. Dom takes on a brave face after the villagers torture him and he becomes aware he will not survive. Only then to still scream when facing the creature, though it first appearing in the form of his wife Gayle didn't help his fortitude.]]

** The impaled elk in the tree that the group runs into soon after entering the woods is [[spoiler: the first victim of the creature we see, and the creature itself resembles an elk in some ways.]]
* FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter: [[spoiler:The monster spends most of her time walk on all fours like an animal; however, near the end, she stands bipedally in a distinctly human fashion]].

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: [[spoiler: Strongly implied with the monster's motivations. After she kills her living congregation for failing to protect the mummified worshipers, she deliberately misses several chances to kill Luke, instead trying to intimidate him into prostrating himself to her glory.]]
* {{Hallucinations}}: [[spoiler:Luke hallucinates seeing the place where Robert died, as well as the people there. This is indicated to be a sign of the creature's presence.]]
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: One shot holds on the group as they trek up a hill. [[spoiler: The monster blends in with the trees so well that you only notice it once it steps out of view, offering only a brief glimpse of...''something''. The fact that it happens [[DaylightHorror in broad daylight]] makes it even worse.]]
* HellIsThatNoise: The unearthly sounds Luke hears in the woods before entering the cabin. [[spoiler:They were made by the creature.]]
* ImmortalityImmorality: [[spoiler:The villagers sacrifice people to the creature in exchange for immortality.]]
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:The creature's primary method of killing her victims is to impale them onto tree branches.]]
* ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter: [[spoiler:Gayle, Dom's wife, only appears briefly toward the end of the film in Dom's vision induced by the creature.]]
* ItCanThink: [[spoiler: The creature is clearly intelligent, as she uses hallucinations to disorient and weaken her prey.]]
* JoinOrDie: [[spoiler: After Dom is killed, the villagers tell Luke that he will begin a ritual where he must join them by kneeling before the monster, or else be sacrificed to her.]]

* KneelBeforeZod: The creature demands that its followers kneel before it.
* LovecraftLite: Ostensibly, WordOfGod says that the creature was inspired by [[spoiler: Yhoundeh; The Elk Goddess, purported wife of Nylarthotep]], [[spoiler: Shub-Niggurath; Black Goat of the woods]] or some combination of the two.
* MasterOfIllusion: [[spoiler: The creature is this, being able to induce hallucinations of anything that people want (or don't want) to see, which lends some credence to the claim that she really is a child of Loki.]]
* MrExposition: [[spoiler: The young female villager who tends to Luke is the only person in the village who speaks English and so explains some of the monster's backstory to him]].
* NighInvulnerability: Played with. [[spoiler: The creature ''can'' be harmed, as seen when Luke attacks her with an axe at the end of the movie, although the wound doesn't slow her down too much. She also [[NoSell shrugged off a shot from a hunting rifle.]] ]]

* NothingIsScarier: Very little of the creature is shown through the movie, the viewer can only get very small glimpses of something up until the last half an hour or so of the movie, in which it comes in full display.

* ReligionOfEvil: [[spoiler: The villagers worship the monster, said to be a child of the Norse god Loki. Said worship involves sacrificing innocent people to the monster in exchange for immortality.]] Sounds like a fairly evil faith, no?

* SurvivorsGuilt: Once the monster starts imparting nightmares and visions onto the group, Luke's guilt over somehow not stopping the robbery that Robert died in comes to the surface, even though all he was armed with was a bottle of vodka versus a violent man's extremely sharp machete. Luke may also be feeling this by the end as he survived while his other friends did not.

* AdultFear: Walking into the store just like you do on your usual day, only to get caught up right in the middle of its robbery -- and end as a victim yourself. Also, making a very bad decision to go off the trail and getting lost somewhere in the woods is scary in itself, even if you aren't stalked by some sort of supernatural force.

* DontGoInTheWoods: The whole premise of the film.

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* FinalBoy: [[spoiler: Luke.]]

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