The RitualMovies like The Ritual
- Key Features:
- Supernatural horror, Monster, Survival, Isolation, Guilt, Trauma, Friendship, Norse mythology, Psychological horror, Remote setting, Found footage elements, Male bonding, Forest, Nightmare, Cult
- Tone:
- serious, suspense-driven, gritty
- Target Audience:
- Horror fans, Suspense enthusiasts, Psychological thriller aficionados, Supernatural horror enthusiasts
- Emotional Arc:
- Intrigue → Dread → Terror
The Ritual

A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that's stalking them.
The Ritual
Two priests, one in crisis with his faith and the other confronting a turbulent past, must overcome their differences to perform a risky exorcism.

Several friends travel to Sweden to study as anthropologists a summer festival that is held every ninety years in the remote hometown of one of them. What begins as a dream vacation in a place where the sun never sets, gradually turns into a dark nightmare as the mysterious inhabitants invite them to participate in their disturbing festive activities.

Unable to process the death of his daughter, Detective Boyd embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles, an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.

After a personal tragedy, Sarah joins her friends on a caving expedition in the Appalachian Mountains. But when a rockfall traps them deep underground, their adventure turns into a nightmare. As they search for a way out, the group discovers they are not alone—lurking in the darkness are savage, cave-dwelling creatures. With rising tension and dwindling trust, the women must fight to survive against both the predators and each other.

A ransom scheme turns into a nightmare for a group of kidnappers who become victims of a horrifying secret that must be paid every spring.

A group of young journalists investigate a cult said to practice human sacrifice, but their ambitious ways may lead them to becoming the cult's next victims.

The discovery of a chopped-off hand in a Brussels canal forces Belgian police diver Kiki to face deep guilt from the past, her own and her country’s. Based on the book ‘Ritual’ by Mo Hayder.

A frustrated, angry teenage girl awakens something in the woods when she naively performs an occult ritual to invoke a witch to kill her mother.

One weekend, after years without seeing each other, several friends, over whom hangs the shadow of a murky episode of the past, meet in a house in the mountains. During the first night, a strange incident takes place that leaves them isolated.

A group of friends stranded near a desolate cornfield find shelter in an old farmhouse, though they soon discover the dwelling is the center of a supernatural ritual.

Five college pals head out of town for a fun weekend, but plans quickly change after they encounter a strange 7-year old girl at an abandoned roadside cafe and offer to drive her home - and come face to face with evil incarnate.

Will and his new girlfriend Kira are invited to a dinner with old friends at the house of Will’s ex Eden and her new partner David. Although the evening appears to be relaxed, Will soon gets a creeping suspicion that their charming host David is up to something.

After witnessing a grotesque murder at a party in her new town, a teenager starts having strange visions and bizarre desires.

In 1905, a man travels to a remote island in search of his missing sister who has been kidnapped by a mysterious religious cult.

Four young men who belong to a supernatural legacy are forced to battle a fifth power long thought to have died out. Another great force they must contend with is the jealousy and suspicion that threatens to tear them apart.

Three friends head to the seafront for a drunken weekend, only to be imprisoned on the top floor of their holiday apartment by a malevolent paranormal force.

Itinerant traveler Cassie Grant comes out of a car accident in Glastonbury, England, with partial memory loss. The deeply regretful driver allows her to convalesce at a large rural home, where she becomes friends with the woman's stepson, Michael. As Cassie delves into Michael's research about an old, newly discovered area church, it triggers some strange premonitions and offers gradual clues about her deeper links to this British community.

A determined young woman and a damaged occultist risk their lives and souls to perform a dangerous ritual that will grant them what they want.

When a supernatural pit worshipped by a remote community in the woods demands a new blood sacrifice, a young woman struggles to find a way to survive as the pit lashes out in anger.

After the disappearance of his troubled friend, American Chris Rivers travels to the remote Welsh countryside to investigate what happened – leading him to a dark apocalyptic cult.

A socially awkward driver and a weary passenger try to make it to their destination while being haunted by a supernatural threat.

Police sergeant Neil Howie is called to an island village in search of a missing girl whom the locals claim never existed. The investigation is further complicated as Howie’s religious views clash with those of the island’s residents.

In the grim Alaskan winter, a naturalist hunts for wolves blamed for killing a local boy, but he soon finds himself swept into a chilling mystery.

Isaac and his pregnant wife visit a remote Norwegian village to claim an unexpected inheritance. The couple finds themselves caught in a nightmare when they encounter a sinister cult that worships a sea-dwelling deity.

Three friends decide to play The Red Book game. What they don't know is that in the house evil is waiting to be released. A long time ago a witch died as part of a satanic ritual. Every question they ask, they get closer and closer to her. The book will reveal the answers to all your questions… but what if your host is an evil entity with a thirst for blood?

On her wedding night, a young woman conceives a child during an hallucinatory encounter. Several years later, as her friends and family begin to behave strangely, she pieces together clues that lead to one conclusion...her son is the Antichrist

A group of former military elites set out to explore an uncharted abyss, not knowing their worst nightmare is waiting for them deep beneath the ground.

On a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer genius. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness – only to find himself in a waking nightmare.

A young girl is abducted by a man, who claims that a cult is hunting her. His goal is to protect her until sunrise but while restrained, the young girl falls deathly ill. While her friends and family search for her, the source of her illness becomes more and more apparent. She’s not sick…she’s changing.

Its the summer of 1974. Four friends have planned a recreational weekend hiking and camping in the forest. At a remote truck stop they pick up an anxious hitchhiker who only after a short ride demands they stop the vehicle. She is clearly frightened of somethingbut what she cant begin to describe in her carsick terror. Suddenly the group are ambushed and left unconscious.

An American doctor encounters members of a voodoo cult when she is summoned to Jamaica to treat a wealthy man's brother.

A murderous, flesh-eating undead young girl haunting the remote stretch of woods where she was murdered decades earlier, discovers a kidnapped and abused boy hiding in the trunk of one of her victim’s cars. Her decision to let the boy live throws her aggressively solitary existence into upheaval, and ultimately forces her to re-examine just how much of her humanity her murderer was able to destroy.

In a small Midwestern town, a deadly annual ritual unfolds when the mythical nightmare, Sawtooth Jack, rises from the cornfields and challenges the town’s teenage boys in a bloody battle of survival.

Four teenagers at a British private school secretly uncover and explore the depths of a sealed underground hole created decades ago as a possible bomb shelter.

Three best friends attending a heavy-metal show cross paths with sadistic killers after they travel to a secluded country home for an after party.

A disillusioned filmmaker has an encounter with a young woman who has a ritual of repeating "Tomorrow is my birthday" everyday. He tries to communicate with her through his video camera.

Students on a camping trip discover something sinister is lurking beyond the trees.

Sacrifice is the story of consultant surgeon, Tora Hamilton, who moves with her husband, Duncan, to the remote Shetland Islands, 100 miles off the north-east coast of Scotland. Deep in the peat soil around her new home, Tora discovers the body of a young woman with rune marks carved into her skin and a gaping hole where her heart once beat. Ignoring warnings to leave well alone, Tora uncovers terrifying links to a legend that might never have been confined to the pages of the story-books.

In a time of starvation, a survivalist lives off a small plot of land hidden deep in forest. When two women seeking food and shelter discover his farm, he finds his existence threatened.

An amnesiac sorority member who has been plagued by a recurring nightmare is stalked alongside other coeds by a killer in a deserted department store where they are completing a hazing ritual.

In an attempt to pull her family together, Adèlle travels with her young daughter Sarah to Wales to visit her father. The morning after they arrive, Sarah mysteriously vanishes in the ocean. Not long after, a little girl bearing a striking resemblance to their missing daughter reveals that she has retuned from the dead — and that Sarah has been taken to the Welsh underworld.

Five Norwegians head for a cabin in the wilderness for a few days of teambuilding. But strange things start happening — especially down by the water where they find an abandoned tent. Is there someone else?

Four friends on their way to Coachella stop off in Los Angeles to tour true-crime occult sites, only to encounter a mysterious young runaway who puts them on a terrifying path to ultimate horror.

After a massive party one evening, 17-year-old Tina begins experiencing nightmares in which she is haunted by an unusual creature.

A horror film told in three parts, from three perspectives, in which a mysterious transmission that turns people into killers invades every cell phone, radio, and television.

American social psychologist Ben Monroe investigates a local cult connected to a disturbing event. While he immerses himself into his work, his rebellious teenage daughter, Mazzy, gets involved with a mysterious local boy, who introduces her to the city’s underground party scene. As these two worlds head towards an intersection, Mazzy finds herself in great danger and Ben will need to race against the clock to save her.

A Catholic school newcomer falls in with a clique of teen witches who wield their powers against all who dare to cross them -- be they teachers, rivals or meddlesome parents.

Anja and five friends join anthroplogy student, Dace, on a journey to study a remote, ancient rock painting. Their excitement vanishes when Mel becomes delirious after skinny-dipping in the waterhole. Feverish, bleeding, confused, she physically and mentally regresses to a vicious predatory state. Mel has gone primal. Mel’s lover and friends realise they are the prey as she savagely hunts them down. Before they can escape another one of them starts to regress, posing a hideous choice; kill their friends or be killed by them. Their only hope of survival is through a cave, where Anja learns too late the meaning of the ancient rock art they came to study.

A family returns from a Grand Canyon vacation with a supernatural presence in tow.

Four young women travel to their college professor's new country home for a weekend getaway, only to discover that the house has a malevolent past.

Three American tourists follow a mysterious map deep into the jungles of Japan searching for an ancient temple. When spirits entrap them, their adventure quickly becomes a horrific nightmare.

Five friends set out to a cabin in the woods for a fun weekend getaway that is, until extraterrestrial visitors turn it into a fight for their lives. The group is pulled from their reverie when a flickering object crashes deep in the woods. As they investigate, the friends stumble across an alien spacecraft, and its inhabitants have not arrived in peace.

Two journalists set out to document their friend's journey to reunite with his estranged sister. They track her to an undisclosed location where they are welcomed into the remote world of "Eden Parish," a self-sustained rural utopia composed of nearly two hundred members and overseen by a mysterious leader known only as "Father." It quickly becomes evident to the newcomers that this paradise may not be as it seems. Eden Parish harbors a twisted secret. What started as just another documentary shoot soon becomes a fight for survival.

Seminary student Michael Kovak reluctantly attends exorcism school at the Vatican. While he’s in Rome, Michael meets an unorthodox priest who introduces him to the darker side of his faith, uncovering the devil’s reach even to one of the holiest places on Earth.

Alex and Selma are a couple in love on a trip to the heart of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Suddenly, Selma feels a mysterious force is chasing them.

Called to court on obscenity charges, a theatre troupe are forced to expose their neuroses and inner psychological torments.

When an explosion in the Norwegian mountains awakens an ancient troll, officials appoint a fearless paleontologist to stop it from wreaking deadly havoc.

Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

A traveller by the name of Crossley forces himself upon a musician and his wife in a lonely part of Devon, and uses the aboriginal magic he has learned to displace his host.

A sheriff investigating the disappearance of a young girl from a small island discovers there's a larger mystery to solve among the island's secretive, neo-pagan community.

In the wake of a young Jewish girl’s disappearance, the son of a Hasidic funeral director returns home with his pregnant wife in hopes of reconciling with his father. Little do they know that directly beneath them in the family morgue, an ancient evil with sinister plans for the unborn child lurks inside a mysterious corpse.

Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.

A hiking trip into the wild turns into a desperate bid for survival for five friends on the run from a mysterious shooter.

A group of friends are going on a camping trip to celebrate graduating college. But once they enter the woods, the proverbial shit starts to hit the fan.

In the fall of 1987, a group of small-town friends must survive the night in the home of a sinister couple after a tragic accident occurs. Needing only to make a single phone call, the request seems horribly ordinary until they realize that this call could change their life…or end it.

After a 4 a.m. knock at the door and haunting voices, Kristen McKay and James Hoyt’s remote getaway becomes a psychological night of terror as three masked strangers invade. Now they must go far beyond what they thought themselves capable of if they hope to survive.

It's Halloween eve on Shelter Island, and the small town is preparing for a killer storm. But the dark clouds gathering over the island are bringing with them a curse one-hundred years in waiting. As the woods give birth to an ungodly and insatiable creature of fire, bones, and earth, three sisters must scramble to stay alive through the long dark night of the Hollow. For it's not something you can kill. It's only something you can try and survive.

A documentary about conspiracy theories takes a horrific turn after the filmmakers uncover an ancient and dangerous secret society.

A private investigator is forced into a dangerous alliance with a killer in order to uncover a quiet town’s grisly criminal underbelly and clear the name of her mentor, who is implicated in the crimes.

On Halloween, a group of friends encounter an extreme haunted house that promises to feed on their darkest fears. The night turns deadly as they come to the horrifying realisation that some nightmares are real.

A genre-defying mixture of horror, sci-fi, myth, mystery and thrills told as four interlocking tales in one intelligent anthology. Ghosts, spirits, creatures, demons and more from the paranormal world collide with rational curiosity.

Three friends pledge a fraternity that's deadly serious about its secret rituals, turning their rush into a race for survival.

Newcomer Evan joins a group of teens on a getaway in Joshua Tree. While exchanging ghost stories around the campfire, Evan reads aloud a mysterious chant from an internet site. From that moment, someone--or something--is among them.

When an archaeologist uncovers a strange skull in a foreign land, the residents of a nearby town begin to disappear, leading to further inexplicable occurrences.

Teen girls perform a secret ritual at a Purity Retreat and, when one of them begins to see a supernatural entity, the terrifying question becomes what is more dangerous: the demon they’ve unleashed, or the pressure of their controlling fathers.

13-year-old Sinikka vanishes on a hot summer night. Her bicycle is found in the exact place where a girl was killed 23 years ago. The dramatic present forces those involved in the original case to face their past.

On a college trip to remote Northern forests, one of the students - Marina - encounters a burial site of an ancient witch, and is possessed by the spirits of the past. Now Marina and her companions must take part in the millennia old fight between good and evil, involving lake witches, sorcerers, and ancient forces from the myths.

Christy returns to her hometown years after a car accident that disfigured her older sister. Haunted by the accident in which she was the driver, she learns that her worst nightmares have either come true ... or are about to.

A pre-wedding reunion descends into a psychological nightmare for a group of college friends when a surprise guest arrives with a mysterious suitcase.

A teenage girl moves into a remote country home with her family, only to discover that the gloomy old house has a horrifying past that threatens to destroy them.

When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.

Four friends are spending the night at Lake Bodom, where unsolved murders took place many years ago. The young men are determined to venture into the dense forest to solve the mystery.

A group of students head off for a snowboarding adventure on an untouched piece of land. When their SUV mysteriously stalls in a brutal snowstorm they are not only faced with the reality of freezing to death but a fate even more horrifying. For they have become stranded in Stoughton Valley, home of some Witch Trials even more horrendous than Salem, and are being hunted by a supernatural creature determined to keep them there.

Dr. David Marrow invites three distinct individuals to the eerie and isolated Hill House to be subjects for a sleep disorder study. The unfortunate guests discover that Marrow is far more interested in the sinister mansion itself — and they soon see the true nature of its horror.

Deep within the darkness of secluded forest land in rural Ireland dwells an ancient evil. Feared by the nearby superstitious villagers as cursed creatures who prey upon the lost, their secrets have been kept from civilization and remain on their hallowed ground. But when a conservationist from London moves in with his wife and infant child in order to survey the land for future construction, his actions unwittingly disturb the horde of demonic forces. Alone in a remote wilderness, he must now ensure his family's survival from their relentless attacks.

An old monastery in a small, remote village in Suffolk, England has been haunted by a local legend for centuries. Left in ruin and shrouded by the mystery of a dark spirit that wills young couples to suicide, the place has been avoided for years, marked only by a twisted, ancient tree with an ominous hollow said to be the home of great evil. When four friends on holiday explore the local folklore, they realize that belief in a myth can quickly materialize into reality, bringing horror to life for the town.

Six young friends on a road trip in Ireland run afoul of gypsies who curse them for accidentally running down an old woman. The curse takes the form of a terrifying flying beast that tries killing them all.

Two lifelong friends head up to an isolated Scottish Highlands village for a weekend hunting trip that descends into a never-ending nightmare as they attempt to cover up a horrific hunting accident.

In this darkly romantic ghost story, a woman travels to an isolated cabin where she is stalked by an apparition who inhabits her space as his own. With the unexpected arrival of the woman’s boyfriend, the dark spirit’s haunting grows obsessive. Soon the woman begins to exhibit weirdly irrational behavior as the thin line between sanity and possession begins to unravel. Is she battling her inner demons, or is a much darker presence threatening them all?

Archaeologist Sigurd Svendsen discovers that the Oseberg ship hides a secret from the Viking Age. Along with his two children put Sigurd out on a quest to find the truth. The mystery leads them into "No Man's Land" between Norway and Russia where no man traveling in modern times. Old runes take on new meaning when the secret they uncover is more frightening than anyone could have imagined.

Based on True Events: Suffering from sleep paralysis, a medical student falls prey to a demonic force that wants to rip her apart from within. Torn between sanity and the unknown, she's left with no alternative but to contact a local priest for help.

A feature-length anthology film. They are known as myths, lore, and folktales. Created to give logic to mankind’s darkest fears, these stories laid the foundation for what we now know as the horror genre.

A group of students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter.

A weekend boating party turns into a nightmare for a group of young Londoners when they stumble upon a terrifying secret hidden in the reeds.

After the alleged suicide of her priest brother, Grace travels to the remote Scottish convent where he fell to his death. Distrusting the Church's account, she uncovers murder, sacrilege and a disturbing truth about herself.

The boyfriend of an abducted woman never gives up the search as the abductor looks on.

Three college friends hit the biggest party of the year, where a mysterious phenomenon disrupts the night, quickly descending into a chaos that challenges their friendships - and whether they can stay alive.

A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence.

When indie singer Grey struggles to write her sophomore album, she teams up with a mysterious producer at his secluded cabin. Though their bond strengthens her music, it also starts to irreparably alter Grey’s body and mind.
