{"id":18770,"date":"2025-06-02T20:57:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T04:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kateohare\/?p=18770"},"modified":"2025-06-03T16:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T00:43:07","slug":"the-ritual-exorcism-dan-stevens-al-pacino-patricia-heaton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kateohare\/2025\/06\/the-ritual-exorcism-dan-stevens-al-pacino-patricia-heaton\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Ritual’: Does It Sacrifice Exorcism Accuracy for Drama?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Al<\/a><\/p>\n

I love a good exorcism film. The Ritual,<\/em> hitting theaters on June 6, certainly is an exorcism film, but is it a good one?<\/p>\n

Like William Peter Blatty\u2019s book and screenplay for the 1970s classic The Exorcist<\/em>, The Ritual<\/em> is based on a real story. For what it\u2019s worth, it\u2019s more accurate to the original than The Exorcist<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And, unlike 2023\u2019s The Pope\u2019s Exorcist<\/em><\/a> \u2014 very loosely based on a real story \u2014 there aren\u2019t any big CGI effects or pyrotechnics.<\/p>\n

Also, unlike Fox\u2019s TV version of The Exorcist<\/a> in 2016, no one uncovers a clerical cabal creating a Satanic power cult.<\/p>\n

It does, like all these other films \u2014 and the season-one finale<\/a> of The Exorcist<\/em> TV series \u2014 emphasize the true power of a Catholic exorcism, which lies in faith and prayer.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve noticed that I\u2019ve so far dodged the question of whether it\u2019s good \u2026 you\u2019re not wrong. I\u2019ll get back to that in a bit.<\/p>\n

What Is The Ritual<\/em> About?<\/h3>\n

The inspiration for the film is an extensively documented, real-life, protracted exorcism case<\/a> which took place the heartland in the late 1920s.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an excerpt of a TIME Magazine story \u00a0<\/a>about the incident, from 1936.<\/p>\n

\n

In 1928, a certain 40-year-old woman was taken first to a church, then to a Franciscan convent in Earling, Iowa. Apparently an energumen, she had exhibited symptoms of diabolical possession for a dozen years: she could not pray, take communion or even pronounce the name of Christ.<\/p>\n

Doctors had examined her, found her neither mentally nor physically abnormal. With the approval of the Bishop of Des Moines, the woman was made ready for exorcism by learned Father Theophilus, who upon 19 prior occasions had successfully made use of the Church\u2019s ancient rite, canonically available to all priests, for casting out devils.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, contrary to some reports, this isn\u2019t the case that inspired The Exorcist<\/em>. That one involved a teenage boy<\/a> in Maryland and St. Louis in 1949.<\/p>\n

Directed by David Midell and written by him and Enrico Natale, The Ritual<\/em> stars Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey<\/em>) as parish priest Father Joseph Steiger, who must observe and record notes on the exorcism of a young woman, Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowen), being conducted at a convent.<\/p>\n

Al Pacino plays Father Theophilus Riesinger, a Capucin Franciscan who is a veteran of many exorcisms \u2014 including an earlier one on Emma that apparently didn\u2019t stick.<\/p>\n

Catholic actress Patricia Heaton plays the Mother Superior of the convent, whose young nuns suffer quite a bit from trying to help the possessed woman.<\/p>\n

So, It\u2019s Accurate?<\/h3>\n

The general facts of the story are reasonably close to the original (other than the movie Emma being quite a bit younger), and there are no winged demons flying around or buildings exploding.<\/p>\n

The film also doesn\u2019t waste a lot of time waffling about whether or not Emma is possessed or has some other issue. Father Riesinger is convinced she\u2019s under demonic influence, and just gets on with it.<\/p>\n

The Ritual<\/em> also shows that real-life exorcisms \u2014 the very small percentage of cases that don\u2019t turn out to be something else, like mental illness \u2014 are a real slog. Freeing the victim doesn\u2019t happen quickly or easily.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, without fantastical creatures or splashy special effects, watching an exorcism just isn\u2019t that dramatic.<\/p>\n

Remember that question I asked earlier?<\/p>\n

So, Is The Ritual<\/em> Good?<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a serious film about battling demonic evil in a realistic way \u2014 with a requisite crisis of faith for one of the priests \u2014 The Ritual<\/em> is fine. It\u2019s dark, gritty, atmospheric, and shows a great respect for Catholic belief and practice.<\/p>\n

There are a few jump scares, but it\u2019s not a sensationalistic horror flick. So, if you\u2019re expecting that, you\u2019ll be disappointed.<\/p>\n

After watching The Pope\u2019s Exorcist<\/em>, I said to a publicist that the film was really silly, but it was all right. Said the same thing about The Nun<\/a><\/em> in 2018.<\/p>\n

However, The Ritual<\/em> is not silly at all. It asks serious questions and deals with them in a serious way.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that means it\u2019s not much fun \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t intended to be.<\/p>\n

As Midell said to the Boston Herald<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cSubject matter that asks questions about what people are willing to do to help those who are vulnerable around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt its heart,\u201d he said in a phone interview, \u201cthis is really about a group of people who come together to help a very, very vulnerable woman. And in the process, they put themselves at physical, spiritual and psychological risk.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He\u2019s quite correct, and The Ritual<\/em> is not going to please people going in looking for demonic possession to be disproved, for Catholicism to be discredited, or for whiz-bang visuals, giant spiders, or other tropes of modern horror.<\/p>\n

Like Luke Skywalker\u2019s journey into the cave in The Empire Strikes Back<\/em>, your experience of the film depends on what you take with you.<\/p>\n