The Ritual (2025) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Danny Midell

Starring:  Dan Stevens, Al Pacino, Abigail Cohen, Patricia Heaton

The Ritual is a lifeless exorcism movie.  You can't help but compare it to The Exorcist (the original, not its lame sequels).  Instead of having the exorcism occur in one night, The Ritual drags out the process over several nights, thus furthering the subject's (and our) pain.  Unlike The Exorcist, which allowed us to sympathize with the possessed young girl and her terrified mother, The Ritual drops the suffering Emma Schmidt (Cohen) into the mix quickly and we're off and running.

Emma is sent to a small Iowa parish circa 1928 run by Father Joseph Steiger (Stevens), who is still mourning the recent loss of his brother when he is given Emma's file and told an exorcism will take place on the grounds by Father Theophilus Reisinger (Pacino).  Father Joseph questions whether an exorcism will help, while Father Theophilus tells Joseph repeatedly to have faith and be strong.  The only thing Emma doesn't do is have her head spin, but she vomits up black chunks and climbs the walls.  The idea that Father Joseph thinks psychiatry will somehow cure Emma is hilarious.  

The movie follows the same tiresome pattern:  A part of the exorcism is done, a shocked and shaken Father Joseph objects to the treatment of Emma, Father Theophilus reassures him they are doing right by her, and then the next night it all happens again.   Pacino, still lumbering around with the same accent he carried in Hunters, does what he can, but the movie itself is a low-energy affair which doesn't engage us.  I find exorcisms to be amusing in one respect.  A demon is powerful enough to possess someone, but flees the body its occupying after a few readings from the Bible and demands from the priest.  What would happen to the demon if he decides to stick around a little longer?  And how do we truly know the exorcism worked?  

The Ritual provides an epilogue which states Emma turned out fine after the exorcists did their thing, as did the priests in question.  I guess no one involved suffered PTSD, thank goodness.