The Ritual (2017)

October 23, 2018

Directed by: David Bruckner

Written by: Joe Barton, Adam Nevill

Starring: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier

Quote: "My old scoutmaster used to say 'If the shortcut was a shortcut, it wouldn't be called a shortcut, it would be called a route'."

Trivia: The way the monster hangs its victims in the cultists' village mirrors part of asatruar mythology about Odin, who originally gained wisdom and knowledge of rune magic by hanging himself from the world tree Yggdrasil by impaling himself on his spear, Gungnir. In the asatruar mythology, the spear was given to Odin by Loki, though it is unclear if this is an intended reference to asatruar mythology.

The Ritual is a really interesting film that takes the basic premise of The Blair Witch Project and combines it with elements from Nordic mythology. Beautifully shot, the filmmakers take full advantage of the Scandinavian environment to create a stunning and mysterious atmosphere. The film also interposes dreams with reality which blur into a nightmarish world. Unfortunately, the movie falls apart during the last half hour. The monster is shown too early in the movie and comes off looking silly instead of scary. Supernatural movies like this always run the risk of the creature not leaving up to the viewer's imagination and this movie is a glaring example.

God Told Me To (1976)

September 25, 2018

Directed by: Larry Cohen

Written by: Larry Cohen

Starring: Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis

Budget: $300,000

Tagline: Was he a god - the Devil or even something more terrifying?

Trivia: According to Larry Cohen, during the St. Patrick's Day Parade scene, he was organizing the crew, only to see Andy Kaufman, dressed in his policeman's uniform, antagonizing and making faces at the crowd. Some of the crowd members then attempted to jump the barricades and beat Kaufman, and Cohen had to hold them back.


God Told Me To is another of those peculiarly 1970s films with that gritty and unpolished look to it and that dark cynicism that would come to represent the decade. For most people, I imagine, the movie just have started off just fine. Senseless mass murders. Violent, but nothing too extreme as to be too shocking. However, at an hour into the movie, the narrative takes a sharp turn towards science fiction and I think it is here that people began to have a problem with the film. However, when you look at writer/director Larry Cohen's inspiration for this film, the narrative makes perfect sense. Cohen stated that his first influence with the Old Testament biblical God which explains the violence. His other influence was a 1968 book called Chariots of the Gods, which attributes ancient religiosity and human development to aliens.