THE RITUAL (Moder, Eldritch Child of Loki + Ending) EXPLAINED

Hey guys what’s happening? Niyat here with film comics explained.
As requested, today we’ll be exploring The Ritual, the 2017 British horror film directed by David Bruckner and written by Joe Barton, based on Adam Nevill's novel of the same name, published in 2011.

Starring Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton, and Paul Reid, the film revolves around a group of old college friends haunted by the death of one of their own.

Reuniting for a hiking trip in Sweden, the fractured friends hope to use the adventure as a final send off to their fallen comrade. But when one of them is injured, forcing them to take a shortcut, the team building exercise enters the realm of the cosmic horror as a menacing presence begins stalking them.

"The Ritual” is no ordinary stroll in the woods. It's a harrowing tale of grief, guilt, friendship, chaos and old gods that lurk in the shadowy depths of the uncharted Scandinavian wilderness.

As we delve into this deep, dark cinematic forest, we'll examine the story, the monstrous entity that haunts our protagonists, the mythology it’s based on, the differences between the novel and film, in addition to the meaning behind the ending.

Hey there folks!! My name is Niyat and this channel was created to assist in answering all your questions about Films, Comics, Games and Popular culture in a fun and engaging way!

#theritual #loki #moder

ABOUT ME
Disclaimer: I do not own rights to any of the source materials I used in this work, appealing to allowance made for "fair use" purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research, under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976.

[notebooks]

The fact that his reaction wasn’t a snippy joke or response, but a primal yell was such a great way to finish it

[theGhostfaceKiller]

By far one of the creepiest and most creative monster designs I'd seen in years. Watching this for the first time I was genuinely impressed.

[grapeshot]

I've always thought the design of the creature at the end was so unique and something hard to take your eyes off of.

[trehubb]

Modern filmmaking needs more creatures that look scary like these as opposed to jump scares..

[bokunofish]

Never gonna get over Luke’s response of an old lady squinting at him being to deck her right in the nose, complete with a little cloud of dust as the hit connects. I genuinely lost it so hard when I first saw the movie I had to pause and let the cackle come out for the next few minutes with that one 😭

[TruthNeverFade]

Not gonna lie, Moder is by far the creepiest monster I've seen on screen so far. Even now, laying eyes upon it, fills me with a feeling of dread. Absolutely outstanding for a movie to achieve this!

[BovineDesigns]

This movie scared me so bad, but it's conclusion is so cathartic, which is perfect considering the main character himself was looking for redemption and really makes you feel for him.

[atom]

This is an actual good unique movie. Wish netflix would stop pumping rubish movies out and stick to quality ones like this.

[stimpyoh]

Fairly certain that the woman who speaks English is the same girl from the family photo showed earlier in the movie...love the content mate!

[HanamoriKuna]

I love the shots of the convenience store in the forest, it makes it look so surreal. The primal scream seems fitting for the end given what he’s gone through. A horror movie I love to rewatch.

[Sunkensunn]

This is absolutely one of my favourite horror films. The monster design alone but the cinematography is absolutely beautiful. I remember watching it with my parents and a storm blew open our back door during a tense moment. Scared us stupid but makes me love them film more

[jonathanmulondo]

The Ritual was better than I thought it would be. One of the best films based off of Norse mythology.

[unterdessen]

The most often used runes here are Othala (the one that looks like a moon lander) and Algiz (the one that looks like an arm with a three-fingered hand).
Othala means "heritage" or "the piece of land inherited from the ancestors". It represents the letter O.
Algiz means "elk" in older rune alphabets, but has a side meaning as "help" (= the "outstretched hand" symbolises protection). It's not 100% clear what letter it represents, but all the rune books I used stated it was Z.

This makes sense in context: Othala tells the hikers, that they've entered Moder's inherited homeland. Algiz refers to Moder's deer-like appearance with the outstretched human hands, and could also be used for protection by the worshippers.

But there's a second interesting reference: The shot at 5:04 shows Algiz in the middle and Othala on the right. If you translate them, this is Z (Algiz) as the last letter of the Latin alphabet and Omega (Othala) as the last letter of the Greek alphabet.
This shot says, that things have come to an end for the characters: Three of them will die and one won't return home.

In reverse, if you went by the rules of Stargate, Othala would be the chevron, that symbolises your starting point - the home planet. But here I'm pretty sure it represents Moder's homeland.

[Mike-mmjp]

One of my favorite movies. The subtle use of the monster throughout the movie was perfect.

[tjrock]

I think my favourite thing about this movie is the number of times Moder can be seen slipping around trees and watching the characters.

[CodeeXD]

Respect to homie for having a clear shot and actually taking it

[gamerstheater]

Kratos: boy I said hunt the deer not seduce it

Mimir: this might’ve been my fault, brother

[JanKarzai]

I remember that while searching for a review of this movie I stumbled into this channel 4 years ago. Ever since I've been a huge fan of yours. Happy to see you revisiting this horror classic

[paulmcghee]

I love how near the start you actually do see Modor move behind some trees close together so it's more movement than an overt appearance.
So creepy.

[waltersobchak]

Dude, your analysis of films is super impressive. Quite a gift you have.