The Ritual (2025): When Darkness Is Not Just Demons, But Humanity Itself

“We are not only fighting demons – but also the doubts within ourselves.”

— Father Theophilus Riesinger (Al Pacino)

In the dimly lit exorcism room, thick with incense smoke and flickering candlelight, The Ritual does not portray a simple battle between good and evil. The film takes viewers deep into another kind of hell—not one of gore or screaming ghosts, but a hell of doubt, memories, and fractured faith.

Based on one of the most infamous true exorcism cases of the 20th century, The Ritual does not frighten with cheap jump scares but haunts with silence between prayers, the agonized faces of the faithful, and the lingering question in the viewer’s mind:
“Who is truly possessed?”

✝️ A Ritual, a Tragedy – and an Invisible War

Some horror films startle you. Others leave you silent. The Ritual, the latest film by director David Midell, belongs to the latter category—an inward journey confronting the darkness within the human soul.

Based on the real 1928 exorcism case in Iowa, USA—documented as one of the most chilling demonic possessions in Church records—the film plunges us into a world where the line between faith and delusion, the divine and madness, blurs like incense smoke in the ritual.

🎭 Al Pacino – The Priest of Darkness and Despair

In his twilight years, Al Pacino does not play a hero. He becomes Father Theophilus Riesinger—a man carrying a silent storm in his heart. No longer a supernatural “holy man,” Riesinger in The Ritual is torn: between faith and doubt, duty and personal guilt.

In the exorcism room, amid Emma’s screams and thick incense, Father Riesinger battles not only the invisible force possessing the young woman’s body—he wrestles with a demon he has never been able to cast out: the fear that his faith may not be strong enough to save anyone.

His eyes do not just look at Emma—they see through her, glimpsing the failures, sins, and doubts piled like ash in his own soul. For every priest stepping into an exorcism ritual carries not only the Bible—but also the entire unforgiven past of himself.

And that is what makes The Ritual different:
The exorcism does not only take place on the possessed body but also within the heart of the one praying.

Dan Stevens, playing Father Joseph Steiger, offers a foil—youthful, rational, desperate to control something uncontrollable: the nameless evil.

👁️ Emma Is Not a Mere Victim

Abigail Cowen portrays Emma Schmidt, a young woman accused of possession. But she is not a typical frightened doll in a horror film. Emma in The Ritual embodies a broken world—where memories of abuse, religious pressure, and childhood ghosts intertwine, leaving the viewer unsure: is she possessed by a demon—or crushed by society?

🎬 From Horror to Inner Drama: A Film Not for the Impatient

David Midell does not rely on cheap scares. He creates a suffocating, bleak, and surreal atmosphere where the exorcism room becomes a black box containing the human soul.

Dim lighting, whispered Latin prayers, incense scents, and prolonged silences pull the viewer into the ritual like a sheep witnessing a sacrificial rite.

📖 When “Based on True Events” Becomes Hauntingly Real

The story of Emma Schmidt—also known as Anna Ecklund—was once dismissed as Church propaganda. But through the film, dry historical documents come alive, carrying the haunting echoes of a century past, still resonating today.

The film does not claim “demons are real.” It only asks:
“If your past tears you apart, who truly possesses you?”

🩸 Conclusion – When Demons Don’t Leave but Change Form

The Ritual does not claim the existence of demons—nor does it deny it. It whispers a terrifying truth: sometimes, an exorcism is not to cast out demons, but to save faith that is crumbling.

When the exorcism room’s door closes, we don’t know who is truly freed: Emma, Father Riesinger… or the audience watching?

For the greatest horror is not the demon—but this question:

“If a demon can dwell in a human being… is any of us truly innocent?”

“Step through the doorway into darkness and experience the haunting reality of The Ritual (2025) official trailer, where faith and fear intertwine in every frame.”