The Al Pacino-led exorcism thriller The Ritual is vile. Not just for its horror, but its message

Jackson Weaver · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 06, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 6

Two abstracted times successful David Middel's fearfulness film The Ritual, rubric cards popular up declaring that you are watching the astir well-documented lawsuit of demonic possession successful history. A last connection past asserts that "debate persists" over whether this lawsuit — the 1928 exorcism of Emma Schmidt — was a lawsuit of medical or spiritual malady. 

Having made it to the extremity of this offensive mess, I tin lone presume that "debate" is simply a notation to the information that The Ritual believes you are an evil imbecile if you disagree with the signifier of exorcism — a practice that has led to literal torture deaths crossed the world. 

Middel also seems to suggest that spirits and demons are not only real, but they lone proceed to beryllium due to the fact that egghead authorities don't judge hard capable — adjacent successful the look of bonzer and frightening grounds that you should beryllium calling 911 for the bleeding, wailing, vomiting young pistillate alternatively of dousing her with beatified water.

This is not a knock against religiosity, oregon adjacent Christianity itself; The Ritual's cardinal didactic acquisition isn't to judge successful a higher power. Instead, it's an absurdly specific, fearfully atavistic and astir despairingly cruel directive not to perceive to the dependable of crushed successful the look of fatal consequences.

WATCH | The Ritual trailer: 

It's each strung astir the cervix of Joseph Steiger (Dan Stevens), a faltering parish clergyman successful the tiny municipality of Earling, Iowa. He's already struggling with conflicting work and powerless enactment erstwhile a bishop bluntly informs him his religion volition soon beryllium the site of an exorcism.

It's Emma, you see: she's been exhibiting each the telltale symptoms of intelligence illness. Ones that done clip immemorial person led to countless women's ostracization, forced hospitalization and lobotomies — each of which, for example, were perpetrated against little-known Kennedy sister Rosemary erstwhile she didn't enactment statesmanlike capable for the statesmanlike family. 

But she's acold from unsocial successful the screaming annals of time. Throughout history, specified practices person forged a horrifying signifier of abhorrent, confused and counterproductive treatments to silence, power and termination women. Just Google where the connection "hysteria" comes from (also, chillingly, its diagnosis).

Instead of technological tortures oregon burning astatine the stake, the men successful Emma's beingness person opted for a much accepted method. Looking for each the satellite similar a Jeremiah Johnson Jesuit, Father Theophilus Riesinger (Al Pacino) has seemingly chosen to springiness up his time occupation hanging retired beneath bridges to request tolls from fairy communicative travellers. Now, he'd similar to excise the spirits from mediocre Emma's battered and bruised body. 

All Steiger needs to bash is instrumentality notes, and support the pesky nuns and Reverend Mother (Patricia Heaton) from complaining excessively overmuch astir the precise large atrocities being committed beneath their bedrooms.

Dangerous message

Unfortunately, that proves a spot excessively overmuch for that meddling kid (i.e. non-psychopath). Instead, Steiger impudently questions the contented of treating a intelligibly suffering pistillate with battle alternatively of, say, virtually thing else. 

Too atrocious he's an idiot, apparently. Because arsenic Riesinger assures him, his fancy-dancy doctors can't prevention Emma, can't prevention him, can't prevention immoderate of us. This is thing acold much "ancient" we're dealing with here. Any second-guessing oregon 2nd opinions volition invariably lead to everyone's doom. 

This is the film's expected cardinal message, allowed to bloom adjacent arsenic its expected cardinal character, Steiger, fades inauspiciously into the background, portion Riesinger and Schmidt postgraduate to blood-spattered moralistic caricatures, which are bestowed with each the depth, accuracy and effectiveness of those anti-drug D.A.R.E. comics (which in immoderate cases actually got kids to bash drugs more). 

An equally trite and terrifying code (in neither lawsuit intentional) drips done this bittersweet affair. If it were made with adjacent a modicum of artistry, the movie whitethorn person tally the hazard of sparking a roaring prairie occurrence of corporate madness. Something this insidious, made proficiently, could good person go different Michelle Remembers, the Canadian ritual-abuse memoir truthful incorrect and inflammatory it set disconnected the Satanic panic.

Luckily, The Ritual is garbage. But it's noxious, like a tyre occurrence that, if ignored, could spark a human calamity going connected for years or adjacent centuries. So instead of ignorance, let's beryllium better: let's look the Devil close successful the face, and woody with what makes The Ritual a steaming heap of belching trash, deserving of its ain exclusion portion astatine slightest the size of Chernobyl's. 

It's not the awkward, stilted writing. It's not the Office-style handheld zooms, making this supernatural fearfulness look not dissimilar a daytime TV sitcom. It's not adjacent Pacino's bizarre accent, seemingly a low-effort homage to his years of unspeakable and forgettable roles taken to retrieve from Ponzi scheme-induced fiscal ruin.

No, the genuinely repugnant constituent of this movie comes toward the end, where aft 90 minutes of dancing astir Steiger's milquetoast hemming and hawing, Midell gives up the pretence of evenhandedness.

In a country that hits you implicit the caput truthful hard it could prima successful Concussion, The Ritual combines liturgy, a dropped book and laughable CGI fume consecutive retired of Lost to marque its case. The proposition is that Steiger was a moron to ever doubt. You tin woody with intelligence unwellness astatine home, the movie proclaims. All you request is rope, a wrought-iron furniture framework and the privateness of a securely locked cellar.

It is an asinine lesson, but besides a cruel and unsafe one. It comes aft in-movie assurances that 1920s medicine was incapable to find thing medically oregon "biologically" wrong, definite — arsenic a smugly (and historically, and scientifically) ignorant pat connected the backmost for our nonmigratory exorcists.

It besides ignores the fact that self-righteous content successful the look of these practices does effect successful death. It ignores that exorcists killed Anneliese Michel. That exorcists killed Tylee Ryan and Joshua Jaxon (JJ) Vallow. That, according to Vice, exorcists traumatized Canadian Marie McClellan and proceed to prod others into demanding the attraction for themselves.

Vile morals

All successful all, it's vile. It's arsenic if idiosyncratic made a caller Bambi, but present his parent dies due to the fact that she stupidly neglected to bash capable whippets. Or a Stand By Me where, alternatively of relying connected the powerfulness and fleeting beauty of boyhood friendship, Gordie tells a crying Chris of people the symptom volition spell away. All helium has to bash is commencement drinking gin. 

Or if successful Roots, Kunta Kinte gave in before adjacent the archetypal lashing. 

"Isn't it large being a slave?" helium asks this time, smiling dopily astatine the camera. "I americium Toby Obedientman."

Cue credits. Happy ending. Did you larn something? 

Basically, truthful ends The Ritual — if not rather truthful cartoonish, just arsenic offensive, dangerous, anserine and wrong.