THE RITUAL: So What If It's True?

THE RITUAL (Blu-ray)

2025 / 98 min

Decal Releasing

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

When it comes to movies, especially horror movies, I don’t give a damn if it’s a true story or not. And God knows we’ve gotten a jillion that have claimed to be, which I suppose is a good selling point for the easily duped. 

So when I first caught a trailer for The Ritual, “The true story that inspired The Exorcist” didn’t impress me much. Not only should ‘true story’ always be taken with a grain of salt, it’s been my experience that anybody name-dropping another movie as part of their ad campaign reflects a lack of confidence in their own movie.

However, this one stars the legendary Al Pacino, which definitely piqued my interest. The guy ain’t really known for horror films, and though he hasn’t done much this century worth writing home about, surely Al saw something in its screenplay worth his time. But even if his motivation was a number with a lot of zeroes, demonic possession does seem like a premise conducive to some prime Pacino scenery chewing…kinda like that time he rescued The Devil’s Advocate.

"I'm gonna speed things up by skipping to the last page."

But damn, if The Ritual isn’t the most drab, derivative and dull horror movie I’ve seen so far this year. Not that it’s slow moving or anything. The film gets almost immediately down to business, with Father Joseph Steiger (Dan Stevens) questioning his faith after his brother’s death. He’s also skeptical that a young arrival at his parish, Emma (Abigail Cowen), is demonically possessed, even as legendary exorcist, Father Theophilus Riesinger (Pacino), is summoned to save her soul.

The exorcism itself comprises a majority of the film’s running time, which would be fine if a unique spin or two were thrown in. Instead, it plays like a checklist of every possession trope we’ve seen in countless movies since 1973, right down to the prerequisite vomiting, speaking in tongues, histrionic bible readings, levitating…you get the idea. Characterization is minimal, and all that's required from most of the cast is to react in horror. As for Pacino…there’s only so much even he can do with such an underwritten character, save for perform it as a consummate professional. But really, Father Riesinger could have been played by anybody.

The writing and direction by David Midell is merely perfunctory, doing nothing aesthetically or narratively interesting with the premise. Unimaginatively shot, The Ritual coasts almost entirely on the conceit that it’s based on a real-life exorcism. But so what? True story or not, a horror movie still needs atmosphere, an engaging story and characters we’re invested in. What a waste.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - The Making of The Ritual; Keeping the Faith; The Script; Based on a True Story.

BUZZFEED INTERVIEWS - Somehow, Buzzfeed has a hand in producing this. They're mentioned in the opening credits, anyway.