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The Ritual poster

Movies that feel likeThe Ritual (2017)

A group of college friends reunite for a trip to the forest, but encounter a menacing presence in the woods that's stalking them.

If you loved The Ritual, the closest films we have are The Lodge (2020), Smile 2 (2024) and Absentia (2011). All three share The Ritual's dread and unsettling feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A Dark Song (2016).

🍅 74% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. David Brucknerdreadunsettlingtwistymelancholy
6 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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If The Ritual hit the spot, these will too

The Lodge poster
The Lodge
2020 · dir. Severin Fiala
🍅 75%★ 6horror · mystery

Common ground in both: murder and cabin

When a father is forced to abruptly depart for work, he leaves his children, Aidan and Mia, at their holiday home in the care of his new girlfriend, Grace. Isolated and alone, a blizzard traps them inside the lodge as terrifying events summon specters from Grace's dark past.

Smile 2 poster
Smile 2
2024 · dir. Parker Finn
🍅 86%★ 6.7horror · mysteryNetflixPrime Video

Both are built on the same subject: nightmare

About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.

Absentia poster
Absentia
2011 · dir. Mike Flanagan
🍅 87%★ 5.8horror · mystery

The same preoccupation in both: grief

Tricia's husband has been missing for seven years. Her younger sister Callie comes to live with her as the pressure mounts to finally declare him 'dead in absentia'. Tricia is reluctant, always holding out hope, but Callie is practical and wants her to move on. As Tricia sifts through the wreckage and tries to move on with her life, Callie finds herself drawn to an ominous tunnel near the house.

Lights Out poster
Lights Out
2016 · dir. David F. Sandberg
🍅 74%★ 6.3horror · mystery

Dread-soaked and unsettling in the same breath

Rebecca must unlock the terror behind her little brother's experiences that once tested her sanity, bringing her face to face with a supernatural spirit attached to their mother.

1408 poster
1408
2007 · dir. Mikael Håfström
🍅 80%★ 6.8horror · mystery

Both land twists and melancholy at once

A man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.

The Little Stranger poster
The Little Stranger
2018 · dir. Lenny Abrahamson
🍅 64%★ 5.5mystery · horror

Dread-soaked horror in both cases

The difference: Easier on the melancholy than The Ritual

In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house is now in decline. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life?

Jigsaw poster
Jigsaw
2017 · dir. Michael Spierig
🍅 32%★ 5.7horror · mystery

Unsettling mystery, and it commits to that

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Law enforcement finds itself chasing the ghost of a man dead for over a decade, embroiled in a diabolical new game that's only just begun.

The Boy poster
The Boy
2016 · dir. William Brent Bell
🍅 31%★ 6horror · mystery · thriller

One thread runs through both: murder

The difference: Leans harder into thriller than The Ritual does

A young American woman takes a job as a nanny in a remote English village, soon discovering that the family's eight-year-old son is a life-sized doll that comes with a list of strict rules.

Alone poster
Alone
2007 · dir. Banjong Pisanthanakun
★ 6.4horror · mystery · drama

Horror built on twists, twice over

The difference: Sits closer to drama than The Ritual does

When Pim and Ploy, twins conjoined at the stomach, are separated, the operation leaves Pim the surviving sister, haunted by Ploy's vengeful ghost.

A Dark Song poster
A Dark Song
2016 · dir. Liam Gavin
🍅 91%★ 6.2horror · fantasy · mystery

Mystery with a pulse of melancholy, in both cases

A determined young woman and a damaged occultist risk their lives and souls to perform a dangerous ritual that will grant them what they want.

From Hell poster
From Hell
2001 · dir. Albert Hughes
🍅 57%★ 6.7horror · mystery · thrillerHulu

Both lean on dread more than on horror

Frederick Abberline is an opium-huffing inspector from Scotland Yard who falls for one of Jack the Ripper's prostitute targets in this Hughes brothers adaption of a graphic novel that posits the Ripper's true identity.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark poster
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
2019 · dir. André Øvredal
🍅 78%★ 6.2horror · mysteryPeacock

Both lean on unease more than on mystery

Mill Valley, Pennsylvania, Halloween night, 1968. After playing a joke on a school bully, Stella and her friends decide to sneak into a supposedly haunted house that once belonged to the powerful Bellows family, unleashing dark forces that they will be unable to control.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Ritual’s defining feeling.