“The Ritual” is the umpteenth retelling of the exorcism of Emma Schmidt, a Midwestern woman who allegedly was a victim of demonic possession in the late 1920s.
The Rituals review
Film: The Ritual
Cast: Al Pacino, Dan Stevens, Ashley Greene, Abigail Cowen, Patricia Heaton, Patrick Fabian, María Camila Giraldo, Meadow Williams
Director: David Midell
Rating: * 1/2
Runtime: 98 min.
Al Pacino in an exorcism movie might have been an unexpected pleasure if only it had not been so woebegone. “The Ritual” is the umpteenth retelling of the exorcism of Emma Schmidt, a Midwestern woman who allegedly was a victim of demonic possession in the late 1920s. It’s mostly a cut-piece version with none of the thrills or dramatic fervour expected of this kind of story.
Based on the real-life case, this drama is relatively restrained, rather unlettered, with none of the big-ticket effects seen in a big-budget effort.
Set in 1928, a troubled teenager, Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowen), is brought by the Vatican to an Iowa convent by a cardinal (Patrick Fabian) for the girl’s parish to attempt a solemn sacrament.
Theophilus Riesinger (Al Pacino), a Roman Catholic priest, comes to the small-town parish in Iowa to lead in drawing out “the devils” from Schmidt. He is being assisted by parish priest Joseph Steiger (Dan Stevens), whose faith has been wavering ever since the death of his brother.
This version has Schmidt as young, freckle-faced and angelic instead of the mid-forties Schmidt when she was exorcised. The exorcising also takes place over a couple of days instead of the several months that happened in real life. Midell and co-writer/producer Enrico Natale preferred to cut corners in their misguided efforts to make the story more appealing.
Pacino and the rest of the cast are competent, but the film they are in is not. The film feels derivative, has typical jump scares and heightened music accompaniment by Jason Lazurus and Joseph Trapanese. The film feels like a low-budget effort. Shot in hand-held, cinema verite form, the production design is low-cost woeful, and the camerawork is shaky and unclear. There’s nothing deep or unsettling here. The afflicted and the demonic don’t come across as anything worth worrying about.
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