Movie Review: The Ritual

By John Corrado

The real life exorcism of Emma Schmidt is said to be the most well documented case of an exorcism and demonic possession in North America. Which is why it’s so disappointing that The Ritual, director David Midell’s dramatized version of these events from nearly a hundred years ago, is so poorly handled.

Schmidt’s story could have been used as the basis for a sincere examination of faith and the real life Catholic sacramental rite of exorcism. Instead, we get a paint-by-numbers possession movie that gives us all the genre tropes, but can’t even execute them well.

The film is based on the writings of Father Joseph Steiger, the priest who oversaw these events under the guidance of elder German priest Father Theophilus Riesinger. Steiger is played here by Dan Stevens, as the young priest experiencing a crisis of faith. Riesinger is played by Al Pacino, as the weathered older priest who acts as mentor, and has seen more in his life than he wants to let on.

Father Steiger is called upon to oversee the exorcism of Emma Schmidt (played by Abigail Cowen) that is being performed by Father Riesinger. Emma is a woman who is believed to be demonically possessed. She hisses at religious objects, refuses to eat food that has been blessed, and vomits black goo. She is brought to a convent in Earling, Iowa, where the expelling of demons will take place over a series of several nights.

Stevens and Pacino are obviously both very talented actors, but the neither one seems overly invested in the material, delivering somewhat subdued performances. To be fair, the screenplay, co-written by Midell and Enrico Natale, doesn’t give them much to work with, including rote dialogue, one-note characterizations, and base-level discussions of faith. The film’s poor camerawork, editing, and pacing also do their performances absolutely no favours.

If an aesthetic can ruin a movie, The Ritual is completely undone by Adam Biddle’s handheld, shaky-cam cinematography, with its overuse of digital zoom-ins that recall The Office. It’s a bizarre stylistic choice to present the film in this way. The cheap, found-footage look clashes with the 1928 setting, and keeps taking us out of the movie; i.e., we don’t need wobbly closeups while Stevens’ Father Steiger is delivering a sermon.

It’s all washed out under an unpleasant colour grade that gives the film the look of a bad historical reenactment in a low-budget movie. Despite Midell setting up each “ritual” with an onscreen title card, there isn’t much tension to any of this. The film is poorly paced, with no real rhythm between scenes, failing to build a sense of atmosphere. Scenes feel cut short, and any tension is often undone by cut-aways to shots of buildings.

While possession movies are a dime a dozen in the horror genre, Emma Schmidt’s story could have been fertile ground for an interesting exploration of the exorcism process within the Catholic Church. The pieces are here; the disturbing, late-night sessions with Emma thrashing about and speaking in tongues, and the hushed, spiritual discussions afterwards. But there is no credibility to any of it, and none of it is done convincingly or particularly well.

The fact that The Ritual has the basic ingredients but can’t even get them right, gives us more of an appreciation for the films that have done this well. There are podcast interviews with real life exorcists that are more interesting and chilling than this dreary bore of a movie.