David Bruckner
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The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directed by Daniel Myrick
influenced The Ritual (2017)
Plot Themes Visuals
Though the plot recalls The Blair Witch Project, the film it most resembles stylistically is the superb The Descent.
There’s more than one way to die in the woods, although so far as horror-film narratives in that vein go, “The Blair Witch Project” has cast a bit too pervasive a shadow for nearly two decades now.
However, this control of style isn't enough to shake off The Blair Witch Project's shadow, especially during an intense tent-based episode, and the resolution serves to demonstrate how successfully the first Blair film channelled the chill of the unseen.
There are echoes of The Blair Witch Project without the found footage tropes and the use of symbols of folk ritual of an alien culture make the audience squirm a bit with discomfort.
And The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, 1999), especially once the friends encounter a strange symbol carved on a tree.
This feels like a subtle knock at The Blair Witch Project , the genre precursor that this film most resembles, and which was set in a strip of Maryland forest through which the Appalachian trail passes.
Utilizing the incredible landscape for some truly beautiful images, Bruckner’s film (based on novel of the same name) mixes elements of things we’ve seen before, executed maturely, confidently, and most importantly—effectively, as vibes reminiscent of (but not riffing on) The Blair Witch Project & The Descent covered in a rural folk-horror blanket of The Witch & The Wicker Man, all framed with a theme of guilt.
With the tragedy in the guys’ recent past, The Ritual recalls yet another horror movie, Neil Marshall’s indispensable The Descent .
Though the plot recalls The Blair Witch Project, the film it most resembles stylistically is the superb The Descent.
However, David Bruckner’s film leans most heavily on The Descent.
Based on Adam Nevill's 2011 novel of the same name, David Bruckner's feature debut (produced by Kiwi favourite Andy Serkis) The Ritual (streaming on Netflix from February 9) offers a smorgasbord of Swedish-set horrors, which, while nothing especially new (the set-up is essentially The Blair Witch Project by way of Trollhunter, The World's End, The Wicker Man and The Descent), is elevated by screenwriter Joe Barton's (TV's Humans) sharp writing and some nifty editing and camerawork.
“The Ritual” is what happens if you put “The Descent,” “The Witch” and “Blair Witch” in a blender, and I mean that as a good thing.
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
influenced The Night House (2021)
Visuals Characters Plot
With definite nods to Suspiria (1977), The Entity (1982), and What Lies Beneath (2000), The Night House is a creepy suspense thriller that is ultimately too twisty for its own good.
She turns in a solid performance with this twisty, topsy turvy psychological thriller that only will have you recall Elisabeth Moss in “Invisible Man” and Michelle Pfeiffer in “What Lies Beneath.”
During the most crucial summer for studio theatrical releases in film history, The Night House (coming to a theatre near you from Fox Searchlight) is a thing that Hollywood rarely makes any more: a terrifying and emotionally moving horror movie for adults, recalling a time when a film like What Lies Beneath could be a summer blockbuster.
It might not add up to a satisfying conclusion – with the trashy twists harking back to What Lies Beneath – but, in the moment, it makes for suspenseful, if occasionally ridiculous viewing.
Invoking fond memories of watching “What Lies Beneath,” David Bruckner’s atmospheric thriller “The Night House” sees an excellent Rebecca Hall playing a widower searching for answers and unearthing shocking discoveries about why her late husband decided to take his own life.
With definite nods to Suspiria (1977), The Entity (1982), and What Lies Beneath (2000), The Night House is a creepy suspense thriller that is ultimately too twisty for its own good.
Her arc from distraught widow to survivalist detective grounds the film's more confusing parts in a stark, emotional reality, especially when Beth experiences an encounter with an invisible partner, a daring, jarringly sensual segment recalling Barbara Hershey's sexually abusive phantasm in 1982's "The Entity."
With a bit of It Follows, a dash of The Babadook, and a hint of The Entity, herein lies a thriller that dares to personify depression itself, giving form to concept that isn’t just a metaphor.
For now, her talents will remain in horror’s pantheon of stellar performances next to The Changeling ‘s George C. Scott and The Entity ‘s Barbara Hershey.
The Babadook (2014)
Directed by Jennifer Kent
influenced The Night House (2021), The Ritual (2017)
Themes Characters
Much in the same way The Babadook invoked themes of anxiety, or It Follows used the terror of pending adulthood to fuel its frights, The Night House successfully builds a complicated, complex, and scary fable of grief.
With a bit of It Follows, a dash of The Babadook, and a hint of The Entity, herein lies a thriller that dares to personify depression itself, giving form to concept that isn’t just a metaphor.
Beth is such a fascinating character to follow through her grieving process, and reminded me favorably to the lead character in The Babadook.
In being a female-led horror film-slash-haunted house pic that’s really (slight sigh) about grief, “The Night House” follows in the mysterious disembodied footsteps of Jennifer Kent’s “The Babadook” and Ari Aster’s “Hereditary.“
There’s space for it on the same shelf as Ari Aster’s Hereditary and Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, even if Bruckner plays to the gallery a little more than those filmmakers.
Literalizing this particular concept is always tricky; one of the reasons The Babadook gets away with it is because the real-life consequences of the depression-monster in the film are minimal.
That’s all the more disappointing given that Bruckner is clearly inspired by one of the all-time great movies about masculinity, John Boorman’s Deliverance .
At first I thought— Deliverance (John Boorman, 1972), obviously.
Director David Bruckner’s survival horror-thriller “The Ritual,” written by Joe Barton and adapted from the novel by Adam Nevill, is “Deliverance” meets “The Blair Witch Project,” the tale of modern men confronting primeval, primitive terrors.
It’s like a supernatural version of Deliverance, in which four unsuspecting city boys get in over their heads with the barbarous natives but are threatened with impalement on tree branches instead of sodomization by hillbillies.
A nivel general el film nos propone una serie de combinaciones algo bizarras para cada fase de la narración, así tenemos una primera parte símil aventuras angustiosas en sintonía con Deliverance (1972) y El Proyecto Blair Witch ( The Blair Witch Project , 1999), un segundo capítulo que apuesta al acecho y las peleas cíclicas de trabajos como Diabólico ( The Evil Dead , 1981) y El Descenso ( The Descent , 2005) y finalmente un último acto en el que se da cita el lúgubre ritual del título, el cual le debe mucho a El Culto Siniestro ( The Wicker Man , 1973) y La Bruja ( The Witch: A New-England Folktale , 2015).
The exploration of grief through the horror genre isn’t exactly a new concept — examples can be found as far back as 1973’s Don’t Look Now — but the trend has become increasingly prevalent in recent years.
It’s more in line with something like Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now” than Tobe Hooper’s “Poltergeist.”
The other feel is that The Night House is a throwback to late 1970’s horror films such as The Amityville Horror , The Changeling , or Don’t Look Now , which all deal with couples or characters haunted by loss.
La exploración del duelo a través del género de terror no es exactamente un concepto nuevo -se pueden encontrar ejemplos desde Don't Look Now, de 1973-, pero la tendencia se ha vuelto cada vez más frecuente en los últimos años.
The story of Possession, which is perhaps Adjani’s greatest cinematic achievement, mirrors The Night House in the same way the film’s home reflects the insanity within.
The Witch (2016)
Directed by Robert Eggers
influenced The Ritual (2017), The Night House (2021)
Themes
Utilizing the incredible landscape for some truly beautiful images, Bruckner’s film (based on novel of the same name) mixes elements of things we’ve seen before, executed maturely, confidently, and most importantly—effectively, as vibes reminiscent of (but not riffing on) The Blair Witch Project & The Descent covered in a rural folk-horror blanket of The Witch & The Wicker Man, all framed with a theme of guilt.
Definitely we’re in the territory now of The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015) and Kill List (Ben Wheatley 2011).
The Blair Witch Project, The Witch or Dog Soldiers, for instance.
In that way, this last part of The Ritual forms part of a broader trend in recent horror films in which millennial crises of masculinity have played out by way of settler dramas, or frontier dramas, such as The Witch and Winchester, in which the heroic male orientation towards the horizon has been compromised by a broader effeminising or emasculating presence.
“The Ritual” is what happens if you put “The Descent,” “The Witch” and “Blair Witch” in a blender, and I mean that as a good thing.
As creative as it is, the film tries way too hard to be a more mainstream version of those crazy, metaphor-laden indie art-horror pieces (“Midsommar,” “The Witch”), fumbling many of the most interesting themes and essential reveals by the head-scratching finale.
It reminded me of Hereditary from the psychological side, where the theme of grief and loss can create the perfect character to follow, someone who’s own mental state is open to an entity to take them over.
In what very well may be the scariest horror movie since Hereditary, The Night House deals with human-level horrors – the impossibility of loss, discovering your spouse’s deepest, darkest secrets, losing the will to live – as well as some ethereal unknowable mythic horrors – where a kaleidoscopic and labyrinth mirror world awaits to snatch souls and drive them to human sacrifice.
In being a female-led horror film-slash-haunted house pic that’s really (slight sigh) about grief, “The Night House” follows in the mysterious disembodied footsteps of Jennifer Kent’s “The Babadook” and Ari Aster’s “Hereditary.“
As explored in an array of horror films from the past few years — take Ari Aster's 2018 Hereditary or Natalie Erika James's 2020 Relic — family trauma can be just as blood-curdling as the clearly supernatural.
There’s space for it on the same shelf as Ari Aster’s Hereditary and Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook, even if Bruckner plays to the gallery a little more than those filmmakers.
In any other film, such adventurous and artistically varied acting would warrant awards recognition, but even if such plaudits don’t arise, Hall will make for a fine addition to the assortment of actresses overlooked for outstanding work in horror fare, alongside Hereditary ’s Toni Collette and Us ’ Lupita Nyong’o.
The “Paranormal Activity” series has reminded us how much can be done with “live” effects — sleight of hand rather than CGI — and “V/H/S” takes it even further in a variety of clever ways (although it uses some computers, too).
The "Paranormal Activity" series has reminded us how much can be done with "live" effects -- sleight of hand rather than CGI -- and "V/H/S" takes it even further in a variety of clever ways (and uses some computers, too).
The so-called Found Footage film has now become its own genre following the smash successes enjoyed by “The Blair Witch Project” (1999) and “Paranormal Activity” (2007).
After six shorts full of shaky cam and thin plot lines (enough to power all of the even-thinner Paranormal Activity series), you might be ready to let them put it to rest.
Eight years later, Paranormal Activity proved it could be a billion-dollar gold mine.
At a juncture where Hollywood has already parodied horror to death (“Scream,’’ “Scary Movie’’) and taken its conventions to their most bloody (“Saw’’) or lo-fi (“Paranormal Activity’’) extremes, what space is left for the indie sensibility to make its mark on the genre?
I was also, though, strongly reminded of Night of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, 1957; aka Curse of the Demon ).
The touchstones of The Ritual point toward the direction of the story: Hints of “The Hills Have Eyes” (1977) and, more recently, “Bone Tomahawk” — although Bruckner’s film lacks the nightmarish rawness of the former and the cinematic poise and poetic brutality of the latter.
It doesn’t hurt that the latest film from David Bruckner ( The Ritual and the forthcoming Hulu remake of Hellraiser ) has a masterful handle on the material.
Interestingly, the writers and director are currently in production of a reboot of Hellraiser, and while many wish they wouldn’t, with the right script and cast, these folks may be the one to pull it off — with Clive Barker’s blessing, of course.
Later, when Beth finds evidence that Owen was dabbling in the occult, bringing to mind the obsessed antiheroes of Clive Barker (not for nothing is Bruckner slated to helm the upcoming Hellraiser reboot).
Bruckner is an avid genre addict, having debuted with the Nordic noir The Ritual at Toronto’s Midnight Madness sidebar in 2017 and now conjuring a remake of Hellraiser .
Bruckner -- who directed a segment of the horror cheapie "V/H/S" and who will give us the "Hellraiser" reboot in 2022 -- has crafted an absorbing, atmospheric thriller, but his executive producer/star Hall proves to be his greatest asset.
With definite nods to Suspiria (1977), The Entity (1982), and What Lies Beneath (2000), The Night House is a creepy suspense thriller that is ultimately too twisty for its own good.
For now, her talents will remain in horror’s pantheon of stellar performances next to The Changeling ‘s George C. Scott and The Entity ‘s Barbara Hershey.
The other feel is that The Night House is a throwback to late 1970’s horror films such as The Amityville Horror , The Changeling , or Don’t Look Now , which all deal with couples or characters haunted by loss.
Much in the same way The Babadook invoked themes of anxiety, or It Follows used the terror of pending adulthood to fuel its frights, The Night House successfully builds a complicated, complex, and scary fable of grief.
With a bit of It Follows, a dash of The Babadook, and a hint of The Entity, herein lies a thriller that dares to personify depression itself, giving form to concept that isn’t just a metaphor.
As the clues mount, Bruckner doles out scares in mounting intensity, a template for haunted-house movies dating at least back to 1944’s The Uninvited .
A nivel general el film nos propone una serie de combinaciones algo bizarras para cada fase de la narración, así tenemos una primera parte símil aventuras angustiosas en sintonía con Deliverance (1972) y El Proyecto Blair Witch ( The Blair Witch Project , 1999), un segundo capítulo que apuesta al acecho y las peleas cíclicas de trabajos como Diabólico ( The Evil Dead , 1981) y El Descenso ( The Descent , 2005) y finalmente un último acto en el que se da cita el lúgubre ritual del título, el cual le debe mucho a El Culto Siniestro ( The Wicker Man , 1973) y La Bruja ( The Witch: A New-England Folktale , 2015).
While the central horror is fully revealed, there are some great shots of the trees waving and rustling while everyone waits in anticipation and fear—just as in the classic Night of the Demon (and also in Tourneur’s other classic horror film, 1942’s Cat People ).