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****
Dir: David Bruckner (15 94 mins)
Adam Nevill’s 2011 horror novel gets a slow burn cinematic outing, balancing humour with dark horror under director David Brucker’s eye, who previously brought us The Signal. Concentrating on banter as well as scares, this has Rafe Spall playing a man riddled with guilt over the murder of his friend in a robbery gone wrong. In an act of remembrance, he and three other uni friends decide to go on a hiking holiday in Sweden. They should have gone to Vegas as the blurb reads, as they are soon caught up in some very nasty goings on, with monsters amidst the recriminations and character based laughs. This is far from a horror comedy however, it’s four ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances well-captured in the script and the performances of Spall, Robert James Collier, Arsher Ali and Sam Troughton. Heavy on Blair Witch style atmosphere The Ritual is a strong entry in the UK horror canon.
Out Oct 13