10 Most Terrifying Horror Movie Cults

Essentially Blair Witch meets Trollhunter, 2017 Brit horror The Ritual sees a group of university friends, led by Rafe Spall's Luke, hiking in the far North of Sweden and encountering some of the charming local folklore.

Like any lads on tour scenario, this is a trip marked by bad decisions. In this case, though, it's less a matter of an ill-judged obscene tattoo in Magaluf and more one of a poorly considered shortcut deep into woods full of occult symbols carved into trees and effigy statues of dismembered bodies sprouting antlers.

All of this leads to an encounter with the local cult, worshippers of the Jötun, an ancient giant creature from Nordic mythology who Marvel fans may recognise from their reimagined form as the Frost Giants in Thor.

The titular Ritual involves Luke either joining the cult or being sacrificed to the Jötunn in order to grant immortality to the cult members. Most of them, though, appear to be long dead, mummified and, it turns out, very flammable.