Quoted from LC The Ritual

Great... until the 3rd act when they committed the cardinal sin...

They showed too much of the "monster". NEVER show the monster in full.
Sucked all of the scariness right out of the movie.

I agree with you that it was scarier when the monster wasn't shown.

A Quiet Place, Cloverfield, Jeepers Creepers, War Of The World's, all the monsters are revealed pretty early on. Iconic monsters like King Kong, Godzilla, The Thing, Alien, are shown from the get go too. Perhaps it's in the timing.

I don't think people were completely satisfied that the 'monster' in The Bird Box just rustled some tree branches and leaves.

Despite that I still think The Ritual was pretty darned good - the novel is good too btw.

I'm finding it no easy task to watch something decent on Netflix lately (that I haven't seen before) so jump on things that are at this level.

Quoted from Penoyer79 Great... until the 3rd act when they committed the cardinal sin... They showed too much of the "monster". NEVER show the monster in full. Sucked all of the scariness right out of the movie.

I disagree.  For me, I need to see the monster at some point, or I'll feel cheated.

This monster was well done, IMO, and was quite scary.

All in all, this was a very solid movie and deserves recognition.

"I don't think people were completely satisfied that the 'monster' in The Bird Box just rustled some tree branches and leaves."

"For me, I need to see the monster at some point, or I'll feel cheated."


I think the sweet spot lies somewhere in the middle.
What they can put on screen is never going to be scarier than what the mind can conjure up.
show the outline with bits here and there, use the power of suggestion, let us hear it...

and then let the mind work it's magic.