The Ritual (dir. David Midell)

by Jack Martin | May 30, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 98 mins

UK Distributor: Altitude Films

UK Release Date: 30 May 2025

WHO’S IN THE RITUAL?

Al Pacino, Dan Stevens, Ashley Greene, Patricia Heaton, Abigail Cowen, Ritchie Montgomery, María Camila Giraldo, Emily Brinks, Enrico Natale, Liann Pattison, Courtney Rae Allen

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

David Midell (director, writer), Enrico Natale (writer, producer, editor), Ross Kagan Marks, Andrew Stevens and Mitchell Welch (producers), Jason Lazarus and Joseph Trapanese (composers), Adam Biddle (cinematographer)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

An aging exorcist (Pacino) investigates a seemingly possessed young woman (Cowen)…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE RITUAL?

Arguably the most uninspired horror concept of them all is that of the exorcism. Not to say that it can’t ever work – hell, The Exorcist remains one of the greatest horror movies of all time – but no matter the subgenre whether it’s comedy or found-footage, nine-and-a-half times out of ten it’s always the same structure and the same set of scenes told ever so slightly differently, but nowhere near enough to keep it from being derivative and, worst of all, boring to watch.

Sadly, The Ritual doesn’t buck that trend. The film, directed and co-written by David Midell, is yet another tired collection of nearly every exorcism movie convention that you can think of, with nothing to say beyond the usual shenanigans, and within some frankly horrendous filmmaking that makes an already dull movie far more unbearable than it should be.

Taking place in 1928, The Ritual documents one of the most famous real-life instances of supposed demonic possession, concerning a young woman named Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowen) who is brought to the domain of Ohio priest Father Joseph Steiger (Dan Stevens) for a series of exorcism rituals to expel the alleged demon within her. Conducting the services is aging exorcist Father Theophilus Riesinger (Al Pacino) who, with Steiger and a host of nuns including Sister Rose (Ashley Greene) by his side, works tirelessly to save Emma’s soul before it is consumed forever.

If you’re reading that plot description and thinking to yourself, “wow, that sounds no different to literally any other exorcism movie out there,” then congratulations: you too possess the gift of recognising how boring these films have become. The Ritual does nothing to set itself apart from its brethren, indulging in many of the exorcism movie trademarks whether it’s priests having crises of faith or the possessed person hurling profane insults at their holy saviours, so much so that general storytelling components like character development are rendered null and void.

There’s never a moment where it truly feels like any of these characters are having an actual conversation with each other, with Pacino largely reduced to delivering exposition while Stevens and Greene are purely on reactionary basis for the numerous exorcism scenes that unfortunately make up a majority of the film. Because of this, there are no characters you can form any kind of attachment to, leading to you not caring at all how this situation pans out for anyone, even in moments where it threatens to have something interesting actually happen, only to dial that way back in favour of more tired tropes.

Somehow, though, the script’s redundancy isn’t the most glaring flaw about The Ritual. Even with certified A-listers like Al Pacino and Dan Stevens among the cast, this is a shockingly cheap production, with some abysmal filmmaking choices that only make it more obvious that the majority of the budget went to securing its two leads (who, even then, appear to be phoning it in most of the time). Director Midell employs a disorienting shaky-cam visual style that makes it look like a low-rent found-footage movie like The Devil Inside, complete with sharp zoom-ins on characters’ faces that feel remarkably out of place for the time period in which it’s supposed to be set, and rob the film of any sense of atmosphere or lighting that its restricted budget couldn’t afford. Seriously, your average Jagged Edge Productions movie has far better cinematography than The Ritual does, and this one has an Oscar-winning actor involved.

There are even scenes where you can blatantly tell were supposed to be filmed a certain way in specific locations, but because they couldn’t afford to shoot any of it, you’ll suddenly have Pacino’s character be introduced randomly sitting in Stevens’ church after the latter has already announced he has to pick up the former from the train station. Beyond the fact that they didn’t even change the dialogue to reflect this change, it’s hard to tell whether the filmmaking on display here is just lazy or simply restrained by its tiny budget. Either way, it’s embarrassing for everyone involved.

It’s such a nothing movie that I’m honestly surprised that I’ve been able to write this much about it. There is no reason to watch this, since all it appears to be is a series of endless exorcism tropes which have long since worn out their welcome, performed by non-characters who you don’t care a single bit about, within cinematography that comes dangerously close to making it unwatchable. Not even the inclusion of Al Pacino or Dan Stevens, actors who are known for going the full ham in the right kind of roles, does anything to spice things up, for they’re stuck underneath direction and writing that barely utilises their on-screen talents in roles that really could have been played by anyone without much else being different.

It is not scary, nor is it interesting in any definable way, leaving it one of the most boring exorcism movies in a long while, which is saying something given how this is already a subgenre that’s generic to a fault. At this point, I would come up with some kind of exorcism-related pun to sum up my feelings, like “this movie’s certainly possessed by some kind of demon” or something a little less tacky, but honestly The Ritual is such a lifeless viewing experience that it honestly doesn’t even deserve that kind of treatment.

SO, TO SUM UP…

The Ritual is one of the most boring exorcism movies in recent memory, fulfilling nearly every imaginable trope with no narrative innovation or filmmaking prowess to make them interesting in the least, with even actors Al Pacino and Dan Stevens stuck underneath some abysmal cinematography that makes it even less appealing to sit through.