Not since Paul Schrader’s ill-starred “Exorcist” entry “Dominion” in 2004 has an exorcism-centric thriller taken itself quite so seriously as “The Ritual.” Based on a real-life case, like director David Midell’s prior “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain,” this more fantastical drama is a relatively restrained effort less interested in standard horror effects than the events’ psychological impact on their participants. Nonetheless, its integrity and able performers only do so much to elevate a reluctant genre movie that emerges as rather dreary — not unlike “Dominion,” albeit minus theological discussions. With Al Pacino and Dan Stevens topping the cast, XYZ Films’ release should lure in some genre fans. Still, their disappointment may be salved only by the thought that this is a definite genre improvement over the abysmal “The Exorcist: Believer” from two years ago.
Midell’s feature is billed as being based on “the true story that inspired ‘The Exorcist,’” though William Peter Blatty’s original novel was purportedly more influenced by a 14-year-old Maryland boy’s alleged demonic possession in the ’40s. Here, the source is accounts of Emma Schmidt, a middle-aged midwesterner who had already been tormented by inexplicable behaviors before being turned over to Catholic authorities in 1928 for emergency spiritual intervention. Because clergy involved documented the exorcisms (which took place over four months), her travails are still considered by believers as one of the strongest proofs for occult possession being an actual thing.
The movie’s much younger version of Schmidt — played by Abigail Cowen, who’s in her late twenties and could pass for a teen — arrives at St. Joseph’s as a frail, frightened and passive presence. Nuns of the convent are tasked with her basic care, while parish priest Father Joseph Steiger (Stevens) is charged with keeping a written record of whatever occurs during her stay. All of them assume that Emma’s true problem is psychiatric. They see little reason to keep her in restraints as recommended by Father Theophilus Riesinger (Pacino), the visiting Capuchin friar who’ll perform “sacred rites” of exorcism.
That turns out to be a big mistake. Emma herself may be a harmless victim, but whatever’s got hold of her is crafty, malicious and violent. It’s soon terrorizing the novices, in addition to targeting skeptic Steiger and young Sister Rose (Ashley Greene) as weak links in the circle of faith. Enough havoc is wrought that the Mother Superior (Patricia Heaton) insists Emma be moved to the institution’s basement. Yet wherever its permanent residents go, and however firmly secured their troubled guest is, these servants of the church sense a mocking, evil entity running loose.
There’s nothing here you haven’t seen before: Furniture moves around on its own, lights flicker and go out. Emma’s battered body shows evidence of cruel internal warfare, while the demon also inflicts grievous harm on others who foolishly get too close. That foul being knows things it shouldn’t about our protagonists, imitating voices of dead loved ones to manipulate them. Through it all, Pacino’s aged friar remains stoic — he’s apparently been through the likes of this before. (The real Riesinger had indeed already attempted to exorcise Schmidt once, in 1912 Wisconsin.)
You might expect 85-year-old Pacino to chew scenery in this lurid supernatural context. Instead, he wisely chooses to play his Bavarian-emigre figure as a man who endures outlandish, alarming phenomena by refusing to be ruffled, maintaining a demeanor of gentle authority and humor. The normally expert Stevens appears less assured than usual, as if fearful that he might have gotten himself into some real schlock.
He hasn’t, but “The Ritual” sometimes makes you wish he had. It just isn’t much fun, even as it lacks the gravitas needed to make a more deeply unsetting impression, as William Friedkin famously managed with “The Exorcist” 52 years ago. Cowen, who bears passing resemblance to Ashley Bell of “The Last Exorcism” (that film’s costar, Patrick Fabian, plays a senior cleric here), provides a touchingly pathetic presence, whenever she’s not a yelling, growling special effect. But neither the afflicted party or its afflicting demon are imbued with much personality by Midell and Enrico Natale’s script.
There are some creepy and scary moments, yet the whole feels uninspired — this director doesn’t seem terribly committed to the mechanics of horror, while the milieu and characters don’t come to vivid life in a way that reinforces “Ritual’s” stance as more of a strange-but-supposedly-true docudrama. Once the end credits roll, we’re left with the odd sensation of still waiting for some cathartic climax.
The Mississippi-shot production’s physical modesty is apt enough for story purposes, though you might wish for a smidge more assertive style from Adam Biddle’s cinematography and other craft departments. “The Ritual” merits some appreciation for not being merely another cheesy exploitation of familiar themes. But that doesn’t redeem the fact that, in the end, it’s a bit of an earnest slog — an exorcism movie more tame than bedeviled.
