The glass castle
Let the rite one in…
Captain Marvel meets Captain Fantastic.
CERTIFICATE 15 DIRECTOR David Bruckner STARRING Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton SCreenplAy Joe Barton DISTRIBUTOR Entertainment One RUNNING TIME 94 mins
The key to crossover horror is that you care enough about the characters to follow them anywhere. And that’s where The Ritual really works. Recalling The Descent in its keen grasp of group dynamics, this wilderness chiller from David Bruckner (The Signal, VHS), adapted by Joe Barton from Adam Nevill’s novel, simply doesn’t put a foot wrong.
Too old for Ibiza and too young – just – for brunch, former uni friends Rafe Spall, Robert James-Collier and gang are planning a lads’ holiday when tragedy strikes. In penance, they end up hiking in northern Sweden. “This is awful in every conceivable way,” complains Sam Troughton. But they don’t know the half of it. Soon they’re lost in the woods, with gutted animals hanging from the trees. When they stumble upon a deserted hut, Phil (Arsher Ali) pipes up, “Well, this is clearly the house we get murdered in.”
While the film’s fantastic elements are painstakingly established (with some pretty beautiful SFX), the characters’ simmering relationships are just as compelling. The cast are great, particularly James-Collier and the haunted Spall. And, as with all the best horror films, you could lose the horror element and still be hooked. But then, why would you want to do a thing like that?
THE VERDICT
Entertaining, engrossing and at times genuinely unnerving, Bruckner’s bad trip is one for horror fans to relish.