– The compelling folk-horror series directed by Jonathan B Behr tells of how, every 18 years, a German town is gripped by fear as strange things start happening
Moritz Bleibtreu in Ritus
The 43rd Munich International Film Festival, which is currently in full swing in the Bavarian capital and will keep unspooling until 5 July, is showcasing nine made-for-TV movies and seven series on the big screen. These include the sci-fi show Wake Up, helmed by Mia Maariel Meyer and Tim Trachte, which tells the story of a medical resurrection experiment with an uncertain outcome, and the six-episode mystery series Ritus, which was created by Viola M J Schmidt and Maximilian Baumgartner, and was directed by Jonathan B Behr, a graduate of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Blending elements of folk horror with a dash of family drama, the latter serves up an intriguing yet disturbing enigma. It was shown in the festival’s New German Television Production line-up, where the first two episodes got an airing.
Ritus is set in the small German town of Seelenried, which translates as “Marsh of Souls” in English, and something is indeed haunting the souls in this marsh: every 18 years, as the lunistice approaches, the town is gripped by fear and strange things start happening. The body of a girl who went missing 18 years ago has resurfaced in the lake, showing no signs of ageing and covered in a sticky, black substance. When Selin (Anna Shirin Habedank), a girl from a different town who is plagued by eerie visions, is seemingly teleported to Seelenried while asleep, inspector André Berger (Moritz Bleibtreu) suspects a link between both cases. Berger, whose second wife, Liv (Alma Hasun), is pregnant, cannot shake the memories of his first wife’s disappearance, which also occurred during the last lunistice. As more bodies are found and another young man, Sandro (Till Raskopf), vanishes, ancient legends relating to the lunar shift, the lake and Berger’s past rear their heads.
The opening sequence, in which a young man wakes up in the middle of the night as if guided by a dark force, is a disturbing and powerful start, which immediately gets viewers hooked. The events on screen are confusing – they may be related to alternative realities or some kind of possession – but one immediately wants to find out more. Later in the first episode, we meet André and Selin, characters played so compellingly that one feels one is right there with them. Ritus is a series that seems to take its audience seriously, avoiding the unwarranted information dumps that can hinder many newer shows. Instead, it allows viewers to unravel the mystery alongside the main characters. The pieces come together at a natural, well-balanced pace.
Ritus has a sombre atmosphere similar to Twin Peaks without the surrealism, and the collective fear of the townsfolk turns Seelenried into a character in its own right. Additionally, as in David Lynch’s show, the score by Peter Albrecht and sound design by Robin Harff emphasise the grim atmosphere, heightening the horror by evoking physical sensations, without ever overshadowing the story.
While it is challenging to evaluate a series based solely on the first two episodes, this reviewer is eager to tune in when Ritus is released on the ARD media library this autumn. However, it’s baffling that ARD would relegate such a riveting genre show to its media library when Ritus has the craft and the cast to hold a primetime slot on linear TV.
Ritus was produced by Germany’s MadeFor Film GmbH on behalf of ARD Degeto and Hessischer Rundfunk (HR).
