I mean, you at least have to give credit to people for trying, right? It’s hard, but hey, it’s also easy for armchair quarterbacks like myself to criticize the works of others behind the keyboard and monitor. But man, The Ritual is just one horrible mess of a movie. It didn’t start off so, but the further it went on, it doesn’t take an expert to realize that the quality and everything else just took a huge cliff dive. Many horror fans love a good exorcism movie, and no doubt there are a ton of B-list and low-budget movies in the independent movie circuit catering to this demand. It’s the year 2025, and The Ritual, I believe, is my first dive back into this horror subgenre.

The Ritual is every bit as generic of an exorcism movie as you can possibly think of. No amount of star power can likely propel this movie to the top. The script is generic, the acting is subpar, and the story is just lacking. Granted, it is based on a true story of one of the best-documented exorcisms in American history, so they likely couldn’t get too creative, but I don’t see how that’s a problem for movie viewers to solve. As far as the story goes, it’s what you’d typically expect: a priest with hints of a troubled past that likely will be exploited by the devil during the exorcism, a troubled girl whose family has seemed to run out of options in getting professional medical attention and now has to turn to the church, an exorcism ritual to draw out the demon, the host speaking in different languages, lots of puking, and oh yeah, climbing on walls. What I did find missing is the typical upside-down cross. But you get the idea.

I’m not sure how this genre can improve going forward. It seems like the exorcism rituals have been witnessed too many times by movie goers over the decades to make it really feel not as “special” or “spiritually/religiously horrific” any longer. I believe the exorcism ritual still has a place in the religious horror genre but I’m hoping directors and producers can come up with something fresh on the movie screen instead of just rehashing the same tired troupes time and time again. If nothing else, maybe a short TV series might help things out. I remember watching The Exorcist season 1 starring Alfonso Herrera and Kurt Egyiawan and it was quite enjoyable. The episodes at least gave time for the story and characters to develop with interspersed exorcism and other horror scenes mixed in. Anyways, The Ritual can hardly be recommended but for the most hardcore of horror fans out there.