Nick’s Cinema Verdict: The Ritual (Review)

The Ritual

NR/Horror/98 Mins

Directed by: David Midell

Written by: Enrico Natale, David Midell

Starring: Dan Stevens, Al Pacino, Ashley Greene, Abigail Cowen, Patrick Fabian, Patricia Heaton 

Review:

Have you seen the horror classic The Exorcist? How about The Last Exorcism? The Exorcism of Emily Rose? The Conjuring 1, 2 AND 3? If you answered yes, then you do not need to see The Ritual.

In the genre of supernatural horror, there are countless films featuring demonic entities possessing some poor soul. A cross turning upside down, a nun gets thrown to a wall, neck turning, bed shaking, possessed eyes rolling back…and yes, a bit of black goo spewing from the mouth. I’ve seen it before, you’ve seen it before. Some attempts work better than others. If you try your hand at the exorcism genre, you’d think you would try something new and fresh?

The Ritual is based on a true story, centering on a young woman (Abigail Cowen) sent to a church under the suspicion of possible possession. Two priests (Dan Stevens and Al Pacino) are tasked with exercising her demons through a series of rituals, each one more dangerous than the last.

Before the title card arrives, you’re immediately hit with a cliched jumpscare. I already knew what was to follow. And what followed was uninspired jumpscare after another. My eyes rolled back farther than the possessed woman. Like I mentioned in the beginning of my review, there were no scares or suspenseful moments that felt even remotely scary/tense. You saw it from a mile away and at times I found it to be unintentionally funny. The only thing that sold me during the “scary” parts were from the terrified faces of Dan Stevens.

I’m a huge fan of Dan Stevens and he was the main draw and reason for why I watched this movie. In everything he’s in, no matter the quality he always brings it. A man struggling with his faith, he doesn’t know what to believe even as the incidents get more strange and unpredictable. Even when he was working with barely anything, he sold the banal dialogue with gravitas and emotion. Can’t say the same about Al Pacino given his performance in this film. Pacino is one of the best actors to ever exist but this role just felt like he showed up on set, took a glance at the script and just said the words like he was running lines. It came off as apathetic. There’s a few scenes where a demon appears in his room or something supernatural happens, Pacino gives a deadpan look like he’s unaware the character is supposed to be in a horror film.

Then again it’s not like he was working with much on set when it came to the demonic entities. A person in a black cloak standing in a doorway, face in shadows, like it was some small town haunted house, isn’t scary. When it comes to the look of the film, you can tell this film was shot on a small budget. Set in the late 1920s, aside from the year appearing at the bottom of the screen at the beginning, you couldn’t even tell it was a different time period. Corners were cut and it was obvious by having it set in one location, never leaving the church, the film felt boxed in and cheap. Adding to the cheapness of it, the film’s cinematography was shot mostly on handheld so it gave it a documentary/found footage look which would have worked if it wasn’t so shaky and did not zoom in on a face every couple of seconds. Alongside poor camera work is abhorrent color grading and editing. While it attempts to give it a grim look, the image looks raw, bland and just plain ugly to look at accompanied by choppy editing.

All in all, The Ritual is one of the worst films I’ve seen all year. Aside from a semi-captivating performance from Dan Stevens, he can’t save this demonic disaster. There’s nothing here you haven’t seen in other superior exorcism films. Been there, exorcised that. Like Linda Blair in The Exorcist, I’m turning my neck all the way around (away from this film).

Score: 2/10