2017’sThe Ritual, directed byDavid Bruckner, isone of the best horror films of the last decade. 2025’sThe Ritual, co-written and directed byDavid Midell, and starring the likes ofAl PacinoandDan Stevens, is the exact opposite. It shares a name with a better movie, but this dull, ugly-looking film,which comes out on June 6, is nothing more than a near-beat-for-beat retread ofThe Exorcist.Exorcism-related horror films have been done to death,and if you’ve seen one, you’ve often seen them all. Most of them have the same tropes and characters (heroes and villains included), but you might think that if an all-time legend and a soon-to-be one like Pacino and Stevens are involved, then this one must offer something different. Nope. It’s painful to write it, butThe Ritualwill go down as one of the worst movies in both of their respective careers — and Pacino’s includesJack and Jill.
What Is ‘The Ritual’ About?
The Ritualis based on the true storyof Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowen), a young woman from Iowa in 1928 who was supposedly possessed by a demon for decades, leading to the Catholic Church getting help for her in the form of Father Theophlius Riesinger (Pacino). When we first meet Emma, she’s already possessed and in a badly weakened state. She’s gaunt, pale, and sick, and at the end of her rope. Only God can save her now, it seems, so she’s brought to Father Riesinger’s church.
Pacino, now 85, is effective enough as Riesinger, giving the Father a German accent that he doesn’t lay on too thick.He is a quiet, calm man, so don’t expect one of those classic Pacino raging monologues at any point. By Riesinger’s side is Father Joseph Stieger (Stevens), whose job it will be to take an account of Riesinger’s exorcism of Emma, which will be done through a series of rituals. They will be assisted by several nuns, including the scared Sister Rose (Ashley Greene).The Ritualalso co-starsPatricia Heatonas the Mother Superior andPatrick Fabianas Bishop Edwards.It certainly has a high-quality cast, but that’s where the positives start and end.
‘The Ritual’ Has Every Lazy Exorcism Trope
Depending on when you read this review, you’ve probably never seenThe Ritual, but in a way, you have many times.It’s not much more than a weak clone ofThe Exorcist.William Friedkin’s classic horror movie, often regarded as the best ever made, launched a subgenre of similar ilk that all hit the same beats without being able to recapture the magic of the original.The Ritualhas every frustrating stereotype you can think of. Emma, whom we never get to know as a real person first, slowly transitions into being fully possessed. We see her getting weaker as she’s tied to a bed, crying and begging for help. As the possession gets stronger, she vomits, she breaks her restraints and attacks those that help her, and in the full grasp of the demon, she speaks in a creepy voice and makes suggestive sexual comments meant to attack the priests trying to help her. Sound familiar?
This Lesser-Known Yet Controversial Al Pacino and William Friedkin Thriller Barely Came Together
Controversial is a way to put it…
Those priests are the biggest tropes of all. Father Theophilus Riesinger isour Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), the older, frail man who believes deeply in what he’s doing. Dan Stevens' younger Father Joseph Steiger doesn’t believe as strongly in exorcisms. Time after time, he says that Emma needs to see a doctor and a psychiatrist. He’s also dealing with the grief of the recent death of his brother. Sounds exactly like the doubting Damien Karras (Jason Miller), who is grieving his mother’s passing, doesn’t it?Pacino, Stevens, and Greene do their best with the material they’re given, but it’s all so incredibly lazy and boring. Every single cookie-cutter beat is right on the nail, with not a single twist or alteration thrown in. Outside of a few creepy images,The Ritualis not even remotely scary.
The Frustrating Filming Style Makes ‘The Ritual’ Hard To Watch
Still, just like so many horror fans will watch any trope-filled slasher ever made (this writer among them), isThe Ritualat least watchable? Perhaps exorcism films are your guilty pleasure, and you don’t need them to set themselves apart from what came before. Unfortunately, most infuriating of allis how unpleasant the film is to look at.This isn’t because of the set design per se, which is already dark, minimalistic, and entirely forgettable, but because ofthe absolutely atrocious cinematography.The Ritualmakes the most bizarre filming choices. It’s not hyperbolic to say that the cinematography will want to make you look away from the screen. There could have been beautiful, sweeping shots, butthe movie is entirely filmed with handheld cameras.
ThatAdam Biddle,the cinematographer ofCrank, is behindThe Ritualmakes a lot of sense, but the same style forCrankshouldn’t be used here. Perhaps the idea behind this was to make the film feel more real, almost as if you were watching a found footage movie, but it results in scenes that never stop shaking (even the quiet moments are full of this), with constant zoom-ins and zoom-outs. For most of the runtime,we get the closest shots of an actor’s face, as if the movie is begging us to find the emotion it can’t conjure up in the script. We miss everything going on around them because of this dizzying style. Case in point: what is supposed to beThe Ritual’s most intense moment has Emma going through some sort of painful physical transformation. We see the other characters react in shock, but the camera is moving around so much that we barely see it. Hold still, already!
WatchingThe Ritualis like putting a bad remake ofThe Exorciston your phone, then pushing your face right next to the screen as you move your phone around in your hand constantly for over 90 minutes. The whole time I was watching it, the question that kept coming to me was Why? Why does this movie exist? Why did Al Pacino and Dan Stevens sign on to it? Do yourself a favor and skipThe Ritual. You’ve already seen it before.
The Ritual
Al Pacino and Dan Stevens deserve so much better.
