You've seen The Exorcist. You've seen the movie about the making of The Exorcist, The Exorcism. Now, prepare to see the movie about the exorcists an
You’ve seen The Exorcist. You’ve seen the movie about the making of The Exorcist, The Exorcism. Now, prepare to see the movie about the exorcists and the exorcism that inspired The Exorcist. Yes, David Midell’s upcoming possession chiller The Ritual is set to see Al Pacino and Dan Stevens play real-life priests Theophilus Riesinger and Father Joseph Steiger, whose 1928 exorcism of Emma Schmidt — chronicled in Carl Vogl’s controversial 1935 book Begone Satan! A Soul-tiring Account Of Diaboloical Possession In Iowa — served as the inspiration for William Friedkin’s horror magnum opus. The power of Christ compels you… to check out the trailer below:
As possession horror trailers go, this one’s certainly hitting all the well-worn genre grooves: talk of “the armour of God”; restraints, convulsions, and flinging furniture; distorted, unholy voices; and a couple of priests — one the wily ancient fundamentalist, the other a green newborn sceptic — experiencing the ultimate crisis of faith. But while the approach looks established to a fault, the promise of something possibly divine among all the devilry comes from the glimpse we get here of Stevens and Pacino’s conflicted priests Steiger and Riesinger. The severity of Pacino’s elder Theophilus Riesinger (“We are the Lord’s army in this battle,” are his introductory words here) in contrast with proven horror actor Stevens’ jittery refusal to believe such battle even truly exists (“What if what she really needs is a doctor?”) is a clear, sparky antecedent to The Exorcist‘s Fathers Merrin and Karras, and the two actors certainly don’t look to be phoning it in while creating that connective tissue for Midel’s movie.
The official synopsis, such as one is even needed here, reads as follows: “When the Church sanctions the exorcism of Emma Schmidt (Abigail Cowan), two priests — divided by doubt — must confront a force beyond comprehension… and their own faith.” Joining Pacino, Stevens, and Cowan in said confrontation are Ashley Greene and Patricia Heaton.
Though history — and Friedkin’s film — give us a pretty good idea of what’s going to go down when the priests and Pazuzu head to war, we’ll find out whether or not it’s an excellent day for an exorcism when The Ritual hits UK cinemas on 30 May.
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