10 Obscure Folk Horror Movies You Need To Watch
9. The Ritual
Taking folk horror on the road to Scandinavia, we come to 2017's hauntingly introspective The Ritual, carried by a powerhouse lead performance from Black Mirror alum Rafe Spall.
The Ritual follows the plot of a group of friends exploring the Swedish wilderness as a form of tribute to their late friend. The unfortunate party soon realize they are being hunted through the woodland by some form of paranormal being, enduring all manner of ominous encounters along the way. When they are captured by the cult that worships said being, it is revealed to be the Jötunn, a terrifying mythical creature and alleged offspring of the god Loki - decidedly not Tom Hiddleston's iteration of the Nordic god.
While The Ritual's premise is familiar, the film somehow succeeds in bucking the trends found in many played out versions within the sub-genre. Some of the visual shots within the film would not be out of place in the most elite of photography competitions, while a supremely unsettling style of cinematography coupled with the beloved trope of sympathetic, yet unbelievably stupid protagonists lends to a rip roaring 94 minutes of folk-centric horror. While it presents little in the way of revolutionary new material for folk horror as a sub-genre, The Ritual is an accomplished outing that knows what it does well and plays to those strengths with great effect.