Netflix has released the first trailer for their upcoming horror movieThe Ritual, which is slated to debut forNetflix memberson February 9. After its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year,The Ritualhas debuted theatrically in Belgium, The U.K., Ireland and The Netherlands last October, but now the rest of the world will get to enjoy this horror-thriller on the Netflix streaming service in exactly two weeks from today.
The Ritualcenters on four old friends from university, reuniting after the tragic death of their best mate, who set out to hike through the Scandinavian wilderness. But a wrong turn leads them into the dark and mysterious forests of Norse legend, where anancient evilstill exists and stalks them at every turn. The Netflix film will premiere on August 25, 2025, and while it won’t be released in theaters, it will debut the same day as theatrical releases such as Warner Bros.‘The 15:17 to Paris, Universal’sFifty Shades Freed, Open Road Films’Peter Rabbitand Pantelion’sLa Boda de Valentina.
The Ritualstars Rafe Spall as Luke, Rob James-Collier as Hutch, Sam Troughton as Dom and Arsher Ali as Phil, the four friends who reunite to honor their late friend Rob (Paul Reid). The trailer reveals that Dom takes a bit of a spill and twists his ankle, while bemoaning the fact that there are no pubs on this trail, and later stating that he wishes they went toLas Vegas. They decide that, if they cut through this large forest, they’d cut their journey in half, but, as it turns out, they should have taken the long way around, because each of these men suffers horrendous nightmares, and while they need to work together to stay alive, the supernatural forces in this forest do nothing but drive them apart.
The Ritualis directed by David Bruckner, marking his first full-length feature film since his breakthroughdirectorial debut, the critically-acclaimed 2006 thrillerThe Signal. Since then, he has directed segments or horror anthology movies such asV/H/SandSouthbound, but this is his first full-length feature in 12 years. For a big chunk of that time, he was attached to direct theFriday the 13threboot that never came to fruition. The filmmaker is working from a script by Joe Barton, who wrote last year’s Netflix original movieiBoy, and served as a staff writer on AMC’sHumans.
This is already shaping up to be quite the busy year for Netflix, withThe Ritualslated to be one of at least 17Netflix original moviesslated for release this year. Starting today, fans can streamA Futile and Stupid Gesture, based on the true story of National Lampoon founder Doug Kenney (Will Forte), withOn Body and Souldebuting February 2,The Ritualon February 9 and Duncan Jones’ highly-anticipatedMuterecently announced to debut on February 23. Take a look at the new trailer, courtesy of Netflix YouTube.
