"We Should Have Gone To Vegas..."
Based upon British author Adam Nevill's novel of the same name, the Andy Serkis produced The Ritual might go unnoticed within your respective multiplex this week amidst snow-obsessed serial killers and the latest big-screen Lego animation, and whilst black comedy horror is sometimes hard to get spot on, the likes of Dog Soldiers and Shaun of the Dead prove that when done effectively, such a genre is hard to top in terms of entertainment value, and whilst The Ritual isn't exactly a movie rooted with jaw-dropping levels of originality, director David Bruckner has executed a movie which does manage to tick the entertainment box rather extravagantly, and with a central four man show including the likes of Rafe Spall at the heart of the action, Bruckner's latest is a movie bursting with cine-literate genre threads and snigger-inducing, quip-laden dialogue which helps twists the narrative through both horror and comedy ridiculously smoothly through a beautifully harmless ninety minute B-movie feast.
Evoking a wide range of classic horror releases, The Ritual nods its' twisted head primarily through a Blair Witch style setting into the Pagan influences of Anthony Shaffer's The Wicker Man and through once again into the creature feature elements of The Descent, and whilst it was entertaining to mentally jot down the movies imbedded within the film's narrative, Bruckner's movie does hold enough strength to be classed as a movie on its' own right, particularly with the four key characters at the heart of the movie each having their own individual characteristics to be much more than just horror movie cannon fodder. With director David Bruckner having past experience in low-key horror releases before, including the "Amateur Night" segment of the highly enjoyable horror anthology, V/H/S, The Ritual does manage its' horror elements incredibly well, particularly in the first two-thirds of the movie when the film's leading threat is seeped in ambiguity, and whilst the final act is incredibly ludicrous and ultimately predictable, The Ritual is a highly entertaining piece of popcorn horror cinema which revels in the chance to not take itself seriously whatsoever.
Oh boy when I tell you I couldn’t put this book down it was so hard for me to read at work and just concentrate. Now I have to admit the ending kinda rubbed me the wrong way but throughout the book the characters, the drama, the way it was written, all amazing. Definitely buying more of his work.
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