Ritual (2012)

Simply A Masterpiece

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Blistering performances.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Just because people gave this film a low score doesn't mean they are incompetent. This film received a low score for a reason. I finished this film and I give it as such for couple of reasons. One is the story. it started off well where the main character with no memory is stuck in the forest. The tension in the first 30 minutes of the film was superb. Not knowing what's going to happen adds a great deal of mystery and suspense. I wish the writer or director would maintain the atmosphere throughout the movie. It died down as soon as the two kids were introduced. As the story progresses somewhere in the hour mark made it looked like it was ending when there was 20 minutes left in the film. I don't want to give too much off the story away but overall it didn't make any sense and the twist at the end was a cop out. No payoff whatsoever and I bet people who praised this film only because of the twist ending. I have to disagree because when your story does not have a definitive explanation as to why the events are happening or for what purpose then there's no reason why it shouldn't sense. I don't expect the film to spoon feed the audience but at least have a reasonable script. That goes double with the twist ending. In addition to this, there was a lot of plot holes. The acting was terrible. Even though the actors' native language is not English, there is no excuse for that. At least give some effort to the characters. On top of that the dialog was terrible as well. The special effects on the blood was decent nothing special. A negative point was the vomiting scene which was poorly made. The cgi was awful even for a low budget film. I've seen low budget films that didn't have poorly done special effects.The music was pretty good. There was ominous music though I wish they didn't overplay during the chase scenes. The first 30 minutes proved this by having silent moments to add the tension. Camera work was wonky at times. it didn't really bother me. Overall this film was a massive letdown. I was into the story for about 30 minutes of it. Although it went downhill after that I was still interested on how is it that the rest of the story turn out. About the hour mark is when I was disappointed and kind of mad. The twist would have worked if it makes sense but even if it did then what was the purpose of the events unfolding. I give this film a two out of five simply because I enjoyed the tension and mystery part of the film and I wasn't entirely bored throughout the film.

CONTAINS SPOILER Think Vanishing meets Memento by way of Groundhog Day. Every minute of this film is important. The last third wraps it up so well. What you think was a stupid action during the film really makes sense at the end. Such as (((SPOILER))) why the kids respond to the cry of their father instead of sneaking up on him, why the killer could not follow him when he had the light on in the forest most of the time. I was pleased that there was not much gore, it would have been a distraction. This is not a redneck slasher film in any way. Micky Spillane said the greatest mystery novel would be solved with the very last word on the last page. This movie is very close to that concept.

A man wakes up in a shallow grave in a forest with no memories. He soon discovers scenes of horror and tries to discover what happened.This Indonesian thriller has clearly been pitched at an international market seeing as it's an English language film. Perhaps unsurprisingly, when lines of dialogue are spoken they are a bit clunky. However, there really is hardly any dialogue at all. The story is told virtually all via images. We work out details gradually and slowly put things together. To be honest, for the first hour I wasn't too impressed. There were occasionally effective moments such as when the protagonist hides in a shack to evade a mysterious opponent. But for the most part this opening two-thirds goes by a little too slowly and some character actions seem entirely bizarre. However, it has to be said that the final third is really rather good. It actually puts some of the frustrating moments from earlier into some kind of context and it ensures that the film ends in a satisfying way. This is for me an example of a film that is definitely saved, or even defined, by its clever denouement. For this reason it is worth sticking with for sure.

This tale begins with a man waking up in a shallow grave with amnesia. Not knowing exactly what to do, he begins to wander aimlessly through this remote Indonesian forest, eventually finding a cabin with a car parked outside. Inside he's horrified to find the cabin empty except for the bloody corpse of what he believes to be his wife as he discovers a wedding ring on his finger. Then, after watching a video of a faceless attacker killing her, he ventures back into the forest, scared & confused, with only a lantern to guide his way. The atmosphere in the first thirty minutes was creepy & unpredictable as the viewer watches and waits to get a handle on what exactly is going on in the film. As more information is introduced, the level of suspense does come down a little and at times I found myself scratching my head a bit. Certain things happen that seem at the time a bit absurd, but if you stay patient and continue into the final act, there is a nice twist on things that IMO made it a very original worthwhile watch. Some camera work was a bit shaky, but for the budget the production value was just fine for the duration of the film. The acting wasn't a problem, there wasn't a whole lot of dialogue for it even to become an issue. It is an English speaking film despite it's locality & ethnicity of the cast. In all, it wasn't a highly suspenseful thriller or a gory horror flick, although it did contain some elements of each. If horror fans are looking for something different than the same old clichéd plot line than I do recommend taking a look, it's originality & clever end make for a solid 6/10.