The Ritual Review: A Tedious and Painfully Dull Exorcism

David Midell’s The Ritual is a horror film that feels like it’s trying to exorcise any semblance of quality from its own frame. Based on the true story of Father Theophilus Riesinger’s infamous 1928 exorcism case, the film attempts to spin a harrowing tale of faith, doubt, and demonic possession but instead delivers a jaw-droppingly incompetent slog that would make even the most devoted horror fans beg for mercy. This is an exercise in cinematic endurance more than entertainment.

The Setup:

The premise sounds promising on paper: Father Theophilus Riesinger (Al Pacino) and Father Joseph Steiger (Dan Stevens) are two priests grappling with their own spiritual crises, summoned to perform an exorcism on Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowen), a young woman tormented by a malevolent force. Ashley Greene appears as Sister Rose, whose role is extremely thinly sketched, while Patrick Fabian phones in a performance as Bishop Edwards.

The Dialogue From Hell:

The script, co-written by Midell and Enrico Natale, is a festival of clichés. Every line of dialogue sounds like it’s been lifted from a rejected draft of The Exorcist—except stripped of all subtlety, wit, and thematic depth. Characters speak in leaden monologues that fail to reveal any meaningful interiority, often leaning on overwrought religious platitudes that might make a 12-year-old’s diary sound profound by comparison.

Dan Stevens tries his best to bring some dignity to Father Steiger, the younger priest haunted by a traumatic past, but the script gives him nothing to work with beyond the occasional anguished stare. Pacino, meanwhile, looks like he wandered onto the set by accident, muttering his lines as if he’s reading from a Post-it note someone stuck to his coffee cup. His performance is a bizarre blend of disinterest and unhinged energy, never quite landing on either.

A Visual Nightmare (and Not in a Good Way):

Where The Ritual truly collapses is in its cinematography—some of the worst I’ve ever seen in a mainstream horror film. Cinematographer Adam Biddle somehow manages to make every frame look like a cheap, poorly lit episode of The Office. Flat, gray lighting robs every scene of atmosphere. Exorcism sequences—meant to be tense and terrifying—look as though they were shot on a home camcorder during a lunch break. Shadows are virtually non-existent, giving the demonic manifestations all the visual menace of a sock puppet show.

Even the camera work itself is astonishingly bad. Shots linger too long on unremarkable faces, while supposedly suspenseful moments are undermined by weirdly shaky handheld framing that feels more like a behind-the-scenes blooper reel than a professional production. At one point, the camera literally cuts mid-scream, robbing the scene of any tension or payoff. It’s almost impressive how consistently wrong the visual language of this film is.

Sound Design That’s Anything But Possessed:

A horror film can sometimes redeem itself with an effective soundscape, but The Ritual manages to bungle that, too. The sound design is so generic it could be lifted from a stock library marked “Discount Horror Noises.” Growls, shrieks, and ominous drones are dropped in at random, with no regard for pacing or build-up. Every jump scare is telegraphed so obviously—often preceded by total silence and then a sudden, jarring audio blast—that it feels more insulting than frightening. At times, the sound mix itself is unbalanced, with dialogue so low it’s nearly drowned out by the droning background score.

Emma Schmidt’s Story:

Abigail Cowen, as Emma Schmidt, does her best with the thankless role of the possessed woman, but her performance is wasted on a film that doesn’t seem to know or care who she is beyond being a screaming plot device. Emma’s backstory—potentially a rich mine of psychological horror—barely gets explored. Instead of developing Emma as a character, the film treats her as a prop, existing solely to give the priests something to do.

Pacing That Could Bore the Devil Himself:

Even if the cinematography and writing were halfway decent, The Ritual would still be unwatchable thanks to its lethargic pacing. Scenes drag on endlessly, with characters staring off into the middle distance while the camera lingers awkwardly. The exorcism sequences—supposedly the film’s emotional and narrative center—are drawn-out, repetitive, and devoid of suspense. There’s no sense of escalation or danger; instead, it’s just the same rote chanting and arm-waving over and over again, like a bad high school play that refuses to end.

It’s honestly baffling how a film with Al Pacino, Dan Stevens, and Abigail Cowen—an ensemble that could, in theory, elevate any horror story—ends up feeling like a cheap, slapped-together direct-to-streaming fiasco. Every element—from the script to the acting to the cinematography—feels like it’s at war with itself, with no unified vision or sense of purpose. The film’s claim that it’s “based on a true story” does nothing to ground it in reality, since nothing about its execution feels authentic or believable.

Overall:

The Ritual is a masterclass in how not to make a horror film. It takes a potentially fascinating true story and transforms it into a lifeless, excruciatingly dull mess that looks like a crappy episode of The Office. With some of the worst cinematography I’ve ever seen in a mainstream horror release, a script that sounds like it was written by an AI trained on discarded horror tropes, and performances that range from disinterested to utterly confused, this film is not worth a single minute of your time. If you’re looking for a genuinely terrifying exorcism story, skip The Ritual and rewatch The Exorcist instead—or even Scary Movie 2, which would at least give you a laugh.