‘The Ritual’ Adds Yet Another Notch In Netflix’s Original Horror Belt

While Netflix has produced a long list of original content since its inception, one genre that it seems to be dabbling in quite frequently is the ever-popular horror genre. Considering the fact that horror has been one of most successful genres in the entertainment industry – ever since you were literally shitting your pants – the platform continues to build on its success and add notch after notch to its growing original horror belt. From one-off episodes of Black Mirror to feature films like Death Note, subscribers continue to look forward to edgy new content that will terrify the ever-living-crap out of them right from the comfort of their own home.

The latest addition to this collection is a film titled The Ritual, for which the platform released an official trailer yesterday. The brand new horror film centers on a hike in Scandinavia that goes terribly wrong. Based on Adam Nevill’s book of the same name, the film premiered in Toronto last fall and stars Rafe Spall, Robert James-Collier, Arsher Ali, and Sam Troughton as four unsuspecting hiking buddies. You can watch the eerie trailer below.

Here’s the synopsis: “Reuniting after the tragic death of their best mate, four old friends from university set out to hike through the Scandinavian wilderness. But a wrong turn leads them into the dark and mysterious forests of Norse legend, where an ancient evil still exists and stalks them at every turn.” In the clip, the group of friends start to become weary of, and initially seem to blame each other for, the series of strange occurrences that begin to take place. They soon realize the gravity of the situation and fear for their lives.

The Ritual was helmed by horror director David Bruckner, whose directorial credits include segments of the V/H/S and Southbound horror anthologies. The film will be available to stream on Netflix beginning February 9. It will certainly tickle that horror nerve of yours just in time for Valentine’s Day.

As Netflix continues to vie for the top seed in a highly competitive market of SVOD original content-producing platforms, cord-cutters can expect to see more and more of these brilliant original horror films and series. While there are also plenty of non-original horror films in the platform’s extensive library, it’s popular features such as I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House and The Babysitter that really shine and continue to make Netflix your go-to source for original horror content.

Michael is a music and television junkie keen on most things that are not a complete and total bore. You can follow him on Twitter — @Tweetskoor

STREAM THE RITUAL ON NETFLIX