 "Al Pacino and Dan Stevens lead the ultimate battle between faith and evil in The Ritual, streaming September 12 on Lionsgate Play")
Get ready for a tale that will send chills down your spine as The Ritual plunges viewers into the heart of a spiritual war - a battle for a soul where belief is tested and the very nature of evil is confronted. Two priests - one struggling with his faith, the other haunted by his past, must join forces for a perilous exorcism. Inspired by the harrowing true story of Emma Schmidt’s 1928 exorcism, this chilling horror thriller premieres September 12 on Lionsgate Play. Directed by David Midell and starring the acting legend Al Pacino, The Ritual immerses audiences in a tense and terrifying descent into the unknown. Pacino’s portrayal of a seasoned, troubled priest anchors the film, as he moves from observer to participant in a battle that becomes far more personal than anticipated.
Joining him are Dan Stevens, Ashley Greene, and Spencer Treat Clark, each inhabiting characters who sharpen the film’s unnerving edges and deepen its descent into dread. In the film, Faith and doubt clash as the priests face an entity that refuses to behave by any rules of reason or belief. What begins as ritual turns into reckoning, forcing each character to confront their deepest fears and most painful truths. Pacino, shedding his signature bravado, anchors the film with a quiet intensity that steadies the frame while everything around it unsettles.
The Ritual lands in the heart of the September horror wave as the Conjuring saga bows out. It offers an unflinching look at the fear and consequences that come with confronting true darkness. The hook is Al Pacino’s pivot. In The Devil’s Advocate he blazed; here he turns inward, trading showmanship for scrutiny, power for pressure. This is a story built on the burden of belief and the fallout when belief is tested beyond what language can tidy away. The Ritual doesn’t offer answers. It offers questions you’ll carry long after the credits roll. What do you believe? And, more importantly, what do you fear?
Al Pacino, who plays Father Amorth in The Ritual, elaborating on what drew him to the role, said, “It drew me because it was a true story. I had seen these filmmakers make another film that I liked very much. And the idea that it was true, and that in it was a conflict between the priest and the exorcist in a way that was interesting. That gave it depth. It took it out of the area of just explosions and crazy things and put it into some sort of a conflict, which I thought was drama. It was a good script, a good part, so I said I’ll do it.”
On portraying real people, Al Pacino said, “I’ve played real characters. In Serpico, I knew Frank. I was constantly with him, asking questions, which was so helpful. It does help to have someone real. It also helps to have someone real that you don’t see. I did Jack Kevorkian. There’s so much footage on these people, so you get certain things. I did play Roy Cohn too, and I use that example because Tony Kushner wrote this masterpiece. He wrote a character that I would call actor-proof, because the character is so sculpted in the actual literature of him. You can read the play, and just by reading it, like Shakespeare, it gives you so much. There are so many variations on that theme. But you still approach it in a similar way. No matter who they are, you still have to go to that place within yourself. You still have your own hand, your own paintbrush, your own paint to paint the character.”
Talking about what he hopes audiences take away from this film, he said, “I hope that the audience walks away with an experience. That’s what makes a film work, if there’s an experience to be had there. Not so much in your head, that might come later, but just within. You went and saw something.”