In a better world, FRIDAY THE 13TH fans would currently have in their collections a 1980s-set F13 film that was directed by David Bruckner from a screenplay by Nick Antosca. Unfortunately, the powers that be decided not to go forward with Bruckner and Antosca's take on the material, instead opting to pursue an origin-ish remake… which ended up being canceled six weeks before filming was supposed to begin.
Bruckner didn't get to make a Jason Voorhees movie, but his new film THE RITUAL is a backwoods horror tale that seems like a strong attempt to make up for not being able to make a FRIDAY THE 13TH. It might not fully make up for losing the opportunity to be on set with a hockey-masked icon, but it might come close.
Starring Rafe Spall, Robert James-Collier, Arsher Ali, and Sam Troughton, THE RITUAL is based on a novel by Adam Nevill that told the story of
four friends from college who head off into the Scandinavian wild in an effort to get away from it all and reconnect with each other. But what begins as a trip of bonding and friendship turns into a nightmare when they take a shortcut and end up lost. Some of them are injured and they seem stranded with nothing but forest in every direction. While trying to find their way back to civilization, they come across what seems to be an abandoned cottage. Inside they discover ancient artifacts on the wall and bones scattered on the floor in a sacrificial manner. They soon discover that something is stalking them and is intent on keeping them from leaving the woods.
The film has a shorter synopsis:
After the death of their friend, a group of old college friends embark on a hiking trip through an unnerving Scandinavian forest. They should have gone to Vegas…
THE RITUAL will be released in the UK on Friday, October 13th. The same day that canceled FRIDAY THE 13TH remake was supposed to come out.
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