Netflix started to create its own movies for a change. Most Netflix Originals are consistently not very good but shockingly, this 2018 Netflix original happens to be enjoyable. This Netflix horror film had many twists and turns that intrigue the audience.

The Ritual is when four friends with a long-standing, but strained connection take a hiking trip into a Swedish wilderness, from which they may never return.

College friends Phil, Dom, Hutch, Luke, and Robert reuniting in a bar trying to set up a future trip they can all go to. They don’t know where to go and decide to leave the bar. All the guys are ready to go home except Luke.

Luke wanted to go out for more drinks wants to go to the liquor store. At first, no one will join him but finally, Robert reluctantly agrees to tag along. Inside Luke is only interested in one thing, vodka.

They notice a beating employee on the ground, finding themselves right into the middle of a robbery. Two junkies emerge from the back room, one threatening another employee, Luke shuffles to the back of the room. Hiding behind a shelf of alcohol, leaving Robert by himself.

Defenseless the robbers turn their attention on him demanding his wallet and wedding ring, Robert looking back at Luke refuses to hand over his wedding ring. After looking back at Luke for another time the altercation between the two junkies and Robert gets worse, Luke looks down at his vodka bottle.

His face is lost in thought if he should try to step in and help Robert, but it’s too late. One of the junkies gets agitated and bashes Robert’s face with his weapon. Robert is down on the floor and looks up one last time to Luke before the junkies strike the finishing blow. The junkie bashes Robert’s face repeatedly before robbing him of his wedding ring and leaving him to bleed out on the floor.

Six months later Luke wakes up from his dream about Robert’s death in an orange tent in the wilderness. He and the remaining four friends are taking a trip for the holiday like they originally planned but now it is a remembrance of Robert.

They are taking a long hike on the King’s trail in northern Sweden. They put together a vigil for Robert pilling rocks and candles around his picture. Dom making a comment that this shouldn’t have happened while passing around his flask. After everyone takes a drink Hutch pours the rest of the flask in honor of Robert.

Their eventual destination is a lodge that is hidden from the public. They are on day two of their three-day hiking trip when Dom trips on a rock falling over and injuring his leg. After trying to walk a couple of steps it’s determined Dom cannot continue the original hike with his leg injury.

Hutch using his map found a shortcut to the lodge by traveling through the dense forest ahead. When they reach the edge of the forest Dom is tense about going through while Hutch pulls his leg commenting if he fears the forest.

There is still daylight out as they continue into the dense forest, they even stop to take some selfies. After some time they start to get hungry, each listing what they wish they could eat right there. They are so distracted by their stomachs that they don’t notice until the last second the corpse of an animal.

The animal is gutted and hanging between two trees in a strange display. The carcass is a fresh kill due to the blood coming from the animal.  Startled by the discovery they all decide to keep moving.

It’s night time and the group is still trekking through the deep forest, and are even having to deal with a violent storm. Tired of the storm they try to find some shelter but Luke is distracted by strange symbols carved into a nearby tree.

They find a boarded-up house that they break into, the house looks to be unused for years. One after another the men pile into the house, Luke at the very end looks out into eh forest. He hears demonic noises whizzing by the surrounding trees.

Inside the guys discover more carvings that match the one found on the tree earlier. Hutch is nonchalant about the situation while Luke is very unnerved. Wanting to get the stove working they all search the house for some wood to burn. Hutch comments for Phil to check upstairs.

Upstairs he finds a strange wooden figure with no head and antlers for hands. He shows the others claiming it’s witchcraft. Freaked out they head downstairs and get the fire started to keep warm for the night.

Later in the night the rain steadily pours while all the guys are asleep except for Luke. During one of the strikes of lightning, the bright white light eerily freezes with a huge glaring light coming through the window. Luke is the only one affected.

He opens the front door and steps out, finding himself in the liquor store where Robert was killed. He slowly walks towards the shelves taking a familiar bottle of vodka. He jerks his head up hearing noises all around him, the shelf is jerked away from him dropping all the bottles on the ground.

Gasping for breath he is back out in the woods in the morning. He looks down and blood starts seeping through his shirt, his chest is wounded by something. He runs back to the house when Hutch starts screaming.

They all seem disoriented. Hutch pissed his pants, Gayle is out of his sleeping bag in a corner screaming out for Gayle and Phil is upstairs naked worshipping the wooden figure. Packing up and ready to leave they are met with carvings in all of the surrounding trees.

They all want to leave the forest as quickly as they can but they each want to go to different paths. Luke wants to turn around and head back the way they all came and Hutch wants to continue Southwest. Dom finds a random path and decides to go that way because trails lead to civilization.

Phil ready to follow Dom and eventually so do the last two even though Hutch mentioned previously they don’t know where the path leads.

Along the trail, they come across little man-made structures sticking out of the ground and Dom is positive there must be others living in the area. Dom’s leg starts to cause him to take a break and Luke heads up to a ridge to scope out the area but once up there he finds there are only more trees seemingly no way out of the forest.

Luke sees a hand griping a tree and the strange monster runs away out of sight. He runs down to the others where he reveals his chest wound. Dom doesn’t trust Luke’s judgment claiming he did that to himself, and they wouldn’t even be stuck in the woods if it wasn’t for him.

Pissed off Luke pushes Dom while hutch is trying to control the situation. Dom makes a comment that he didn’t fight when he was with Rob. Luke comments that they are no longer friends to which Dom replies by calling him a coward.

Luke punches Dom knocking him to the ground before he packs up his gear and leaves the group. Hutch trying to keep the group together and their hopes up. But when they discover fabric buried in the ground they find an old tent with shoes and a wallet that has pictures from the 1980’s morale turns very low.

It’s nighttime and they set up camp where Luke and Hutch discuss their dire situation. Hutch wants Luke to go out on his own to find help while he’ll stay behind with the rest of their group. As Luke is getting all his belongings together, he hears branches move in the woods and footstep right outside his tent.

He pokes his head out and sees the liquor store with Robert in the middle of the woods. Just like the first time, Robert’s head gets bashed in by the junkie. The junkie suddenly looks right at Luke with grey eyes and calls out to him a coward. Then Hutch’s open tent is lifted into the air and Luke jerks back awake.

Hearing Phil screaming outside his tent, Luke goes out to see Phil rambling about something being here and it took Hutch. Luke wakes Dom up and exclaims that Hutch is missing, then Hutch’s agonized shrieks are heard deep in the woods followed by the roar of the monster.

They rush into the woods trying to find Hutch but Dom is worried that they’ll get lost and should return to camp get their belongings and then go look for Hutch. The next morning they are sitting on the ground and slowly get up to continue walking.

Walking for a bit Luke leads while Phil helps Dom and they all pause when they see a gruesome sight. Hutch’s body is hung in the trees gutted. They take his body down to retries the compass and try their best to bury him.

While Dom and Luke bury Hutch with branches Phil is starting to let fear take over. He says the monster put Hutch there on purpose so they could all find him.

Luke leading the group to the Southwest direction that Hutch said was the correct path. Dom and Phil are slowly losing control. Sopping to get some water they find footprints in the soil. Proof that there are humans living in these woods.

They decide to go the opposite direction from the footprints and go upwards to more treacherous terrain. As they climb up, they don’t notice the creature silently watching them and even when it walks by.

They are close to the top when Phil mentally breaks, and Dom physically breaks. Luke reaches the very top by himself and sees that they are getting closer to the other ends of the hill and away from the forest.

He rejoins the other two finding Phil searching the trees saying he heard noises from the distance. The monster pulls Phil away from the path and deeper into the woods. Luke hides behind a fallen log while Phil screams before he is killed and eaten by the monster. \

Luke tries to run away but he bangs his head on a tree. He is again sent to the liquor store hidden behind the shelf. Robert awakens on the ground weakly telling Luke he can’t run. Luke finds himself back in the woods with the creature nearby.

Searching for the two he spot Dom hidden by a tree. Dom is terrified panting and sobbing. Luke promises that he isn’t going to leave Dom. They both runoff, the creature stalking them. They stop running when they hear noises all around them then the monster roars at them and they run again. They find Phil hung up in the trees.

Still running with the creature chasing them they come across another house. They break down the door trying to catch their breath they see a woman is also in the house. She is sitting at an ornate wood carving and another person’s feet appear before Luke is kicked in the head.

The two wake up tied to the wall in a wooden room hearing distorted roaring and voices that are getting louder. Luke moves some dirt from the window and sees several people outside building something.

Two people burst into the room along with the elderly woman. She looks at Luke’s chest wound before she flashes her own similar wound to him. She moves towards Dom and doesn’t offer him water instead she walks away while Luke protests.

Two men grab Dom and drag him out of the room. Dom starts screaming upstairs followed by the creature roaring. A younger woman enters the room telling Luke they are preparing him a sacrifice and that it will be over soon.

Two men drag Dom back into the wooden room beaten and scared. Dom tells Luke about his nightmare back at the lodge. He saw these people offering himself to that thing and he saw his wife Gayle too. Dom is convinced that he is going to die there are his nightmare is true.

Luke tries to reassure Dom that he’s not going to die but then he is quickly dragged outside and tied to the offering structure that they were building earlier. Dom looks around and sees several other decayed bodies hung between the trees.

The people begin to chant in Swedish and then the night overtakes the day. Back in the room, Luke is trying to free himself of his ropes, breaking his own finger to get them loose. Outside Dom is growing impatient calling out into the woods before the people behind him get on their knees and bow to the approaching monster.

Dom looks straight through the forest to the approaching monster breaking through the trees. But Dom doesn’t see the monster but his wife. As she walks up to him touching his face her eyes cast in a gray glow.

Slowly her form reverts to the monster its glowing grey eyes and long fingers. It grabs Dom off the pole placing him up in a tree stabbing a branch right through him, killing him.

Inside the house, the young woman returns and Luke hides that he is free from his binds. Luke talks to her to see if he is going to be the next sacrifice.  He finally asks her what the creature is and she explains it’s an ancient god. A yoten, an offspring of the Norse god Loki and they do not say its true name.

She explains they all worship the god and it lets them live beyond natural life with no more pain and death. Luke is the next member of their society, he must kneel before the god or he will hang in the trees.

The woman leaves and Luke makes his escape. Opening the door he hears chanting and growling voices from outside. He passes a room full of the belongings of the past previous sacrifices. He looks outside to see everyone standing chanting and the elderly woman enters the house sending Luke upstairs.

Finding the source of the strange voices coming from a room. He takes a torch entering the room finding multiple decayed bodies all silent but still moving. Luke sets the bodies on fire with his torch. The growing fire catches the attention of the others outside Luke slowly climbs down the stairs before turning back and meets the elderly woman from earlier.

Luke punches her in the face knocking her to the ground. He returns back to the room with all the belongings grabbing a gun and two bullets. Outside the creature has returned, everyone getting down on their knees to kneel.

The monster moves through them speaking in an ancient language selecting the blond woman by grabbing her.  Luke in the house encounters a man in the hallway shooting him. He makes it to the front room where a skinny man kneels down and pays no mind to Luke.

Luke tells the man to drop his ax before he bends down and grabs it himself. Right in front of the doorway outside the creature drops the blonde woman that has no eyes. It bends its head down into the doorframe.

Luke runs into the back of the burning house he makes it out of the house and sits down nearby the burning house. The creature has killed all of his followers and Luke gets his gun ready and shoots the monster. The creature isn’t wounded at all and instead causes the creature to chase after him.

The bright fluorescent light of the store return and the creature runs alongside the aisles next to Luke. They continue this chase until the creature rams into Luke. He gets to his feet turning around to see the monster right on top of him. It grabs Luke and brings close to its menacingly gray eyes.

Luke falls to the ground and falls to his knees and kneels before the god. The creature backs away standing on its elk-like hindlegs. The creature places its hand on Luke’s head pushing him to the ground. Luke spots the fallen ax nearby. Robert is next to it and turns to face Luke. \

Luke grabs the ax stabbing it deep into the creature’s face before running away and making it out of the forest. Luke falls to the ground and looks into the forest where the creature lets out a bellowing roar unable to move beyond the forest edge. Luke roars back before he continues onward seeing a car driving by in the distance.