The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
The Ritual
Horror · Mystery · 2017
A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that's stalking them.
Movie details
The Ritual
“Your darkest dream awaits you.”
2017 Horror · Mystery 1h 34m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.3 / 10
Community rating
A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that's stalking them.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Ritual?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
The Blair Witch Project
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In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
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Fear Street: 1994
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After a series of brutal slayings, a teen and her friends take on an evil force that's plagued their notorious town for centuries.
The Watchers
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A young artist gets stranded in an extensive, immaculate forest in western Ireland, where, after finding shelter, she becomes trapped alongside three strangers, stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Gretel & Hansel
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A long time ago in a distant fairy tale countryside, a young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil.
I Am Not a Serial Killer
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In a small Midwestern town, a troubled teen with homicidal tendencies must hunt down and destroy a supernatural killer while keeping his own inner demons at bay.
The Boogeyman
Horror · 2023
Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her younger sister find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.
Nosferatu
Horror · 2024
A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.
Silver Bullet
Horror · 1985
The small city of Tarker's Mills is startled by a series of sadistic murders. The population fears the work of a maniac, but sightings of a mysterious, hairy creature soon spread. People lock themselves up at night, but there's one boy who's still outside…
House of 1000 Corpses
Horror · 2003
Two teenage couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of serial killers end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
David Bruckner
Written by
Joe Barton
Rafe Spall
Luke
Arsher Ali
Phil
Robert James-Collier
Hutch
Sam Troughton
Dom
Paul Reid
Robert
Matthew Needham
Junkie
Jacob James Beswick
Fiend
Court is in session
Put The Ritual on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.