The Ritual [2025] – Movie Review (1/5)

THE RITUAL is a new exorcism horror movie… and it’s not a good one. In fact, despite the impressive cast led by Al Pacino and Dan Stevens, it’s absolutely terrible. It’s even more generic than the title. Read our full The Ritual (2025) horror movie review here!

THE RITUAL is an exorcism horror movie based on “the shocking true story of the most infamous exorcism in American history”. Well, after watching it, I’d say what’s truly shocking is just how boring and generic a movie this was.

DO NOT CONFUSE THIS WITH…

The very good Netflix movie The Ritual from 2017 – watch that instead >

The director is better than this, the cast (certainly historically) is better, and the true story should also make for something more interesting. Unfortunately, virtually everything about the way this story is told makes it boring and unengaging. Including the CGI choices.

Continue reading our 2025 The Ritual horror movie review below. Find it In Theaters from June 6, 2025.

The most lackluster exorcism story

With The Ritual, we’re off to a terrible start because the focus is on the priests rather than the possessed girl. If The Exorcist taught us anything, it should be that despite the title, the heart of the movie is the possessed girl.

The same goes for The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which also focused on the girl as well as made her the focus of the title. With this 2025 exorcism movie about a real case from 1928, it’s all about the priests.

We just get right into it, and it’s not good. The story isn’t good, and the actors are given virtually nothing to work with, so I can’t fault them.

Or maybe that’s not entirely true…

Too good a cast for this exorcism movie

Okay, I have to admit that Al Pacino does deliver a very lackluster performance. He sounds exactly like in Hunters, where he was damn good, but here it’s just a mess. Robert De Niro is still great, but Al Pacino dropped the ball on this one.

This is Russell Crowe territory, but I guess he was too young for the role in The Ritual. We see pictures of the real-life people, which explains this.

Dan Stevens is good, but it’s nowhere near enough to make the movie interesting. Meanwhile, Ashley Greene and Patricia Heaton as a young nun and Mother Superior, respectively, are given so little to work with, it’s embarrassing.

The possessed girl, Emma Schmidt, is portrayed by Abigail Cowen. She does nothing wrong, but this movie isn’t the great role for her that it could (should!) have been.

You can watch The Ritual in theaters

The Ritual (2025) was written and directed by David Midell. Everything from the title to the production is as generic as the title. And the camerawork is downright terrible. The most wobbly, handheld motion-sickness-inducing experience. It’s truly awful.

The story comes from writer-director David Midell and Enrico Natale, and is based on a true story. This fact alone should’ve made for a more interesting viewing experience, but it’s all about the priests and very little about the possessed girl.

In fact, at the end of the movie, we see pictures of the priests but not the girl. Why?! Pictures do exist of her, so a quick Google search can help you.

Could it be because the true story involved a 46-year-old Emma Schmidt (or Anna Ecklund as she was also known), and not the young girl featured in this movie?

Even that detail makes for a very crappy take on a “true story.” The old priests are the “heroes,” and the real person suffering through it all is de-aged to tell her story. I thought it couldn’t get worse than the actual movie, but this detail made it all even more terrible to me.

The Ritual (2025) is out in US Theaters nationwide from June 6, 2025.

Details

Director: David Midell
Script: David Midell
Cast: Al Pacino, Dan Stevens, Ashley Greene, Abigail Cowen, Maria Camila Giraldo, Meadow Williams, Patrick Fabian, Patricia Heaton