The Ritual is rinse and repeat, with few redeeming qualities

This June sees the theatrical release of yet another Hollywood film about demonic possession and it is getting attention from some Catholics. The Ritual stars the great Al Pacino and Dan Stevens as the priests who handled what is considered the most documented exorcism in the United States, involving a young woman named Emma Schmidt in Iowa in the 1920s.

But The Ritual is “yet another” unoriginal chip off The Exorcist block from 1973. Exorcism films seem to be ritualistic in their own right. Established by William Friedkin and starring Max von Sydow as the heroic Fr. Merrin, The Exorcist was a once-and-done, as the past 50 years of carbon copies show.

There is usually buzz around films such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose or The Pope’s Exorcist, and The Ritual is no different. Why do such films typically get the attention that they do, worn out as they are?

Exorcisms are certainly (and thankfully) not a typical spiritual experience. But given the other-worldly and frightening prospect of facing off with a devil, we have this horror subgenre and the whole possession trope, complete with eerie voices, glazed eyes, bed restraints, scorching crosses, and lewd convulsions. Horror movies are horror movies, of course, and the over-the-top presentations of exorcisms (even in The Exorcist) are not necessarily the kind of fare that Catholics can provide inspiration or spiritual edification.

There is a grotesque quality to these films that seems to exploit deep spiritual agonies. That being said, these films also tend by their nature to parody evil, making it far more explicit and dramatic than hellish agonies typically are. True demons are certainly far more horrific than anything in any horror movie, but the head spinning, projectile vomiting, and contortionist wall-crawling is not the way Satan rolls.

But ugly and disturbing as they are—and difficult to justify from a Catholic perspective—films from The Exorcist to The Ritual may present some argument for their existence insofar as they make the devil a clearer antagonist than he would ever wish to be before a general audience. Not that his wiles would ever be tripped up by the retreading pervasiveness of a horror film category. But there is some point of interest in that such films portray Satan in his true colors, which he masterfully avoids in the process of snatching souls.

There is another factor of spiritual hunger in our secular age that may cause people to be drawn to spiritual horror. The occult may be just another genre, but the popularity of that genre is a subconscious prying after a meaningfulness that has been lost to the worldly soul. Demons may be little more than sinister and ravaging ghosts when it comes to the entertainment mill, but there is evidence of a spiritual crisis lurking there.

The primeval clash of the natural and the supernatural is reflective of reality, even if possession fiction dwells upon the unreal. As the exorcist tale has drawn on, however, there is an increasing cultural penchant to succumb rather than struggle, diluting the inconvenient implications of the spiritual realm. The exorcist and the possessed child are little more than characters in the grotesquerie gallery, but evil still seeks new victims with smoke-like stealth.

And Catholics should be ever wary of that enemy, and of the diversions he has established since the Garden of Eden. The devil knows better than any politician to never let a crisis go to waste. If there is a spiritual vacuum, he might well be willing to occupy it, even if it is under a silly cinematic guise that fails to reflect his true mode of attack or the true depth of his depravity and hatred.

For all its flaws as a film—and they are many—The Ritual at least presents hell as honestly as it can, even if it is with the same tired devices, which have more to do with shock value than mystic value. Whether or not these depictions lead to spiritual awakening, or caution, or just draw the unsuspecting viewer closer to the everlasting fire’s embrace, is hard to judge.

The Ritual may not strictly be offensive to Catholic theology or disrespectful to the practices the Church has established to protect her flock from the devil, who like a roaring lion goes about seeking someone to devour. But exposing oneself to such imagery, such perversity, such devilry—especially when that level of demonic attack is so uncommon—can hardly be worth the risk.

Even in performance, there is an effect that rubs off, that stains, and that breaks down resistance. Although such films show Satan for what he is to some extent, they also give the devil far more than his due—and he isn’t due anything, fallen pathetic creature that he is, defeated and overthrown by the power of the glorious Cross of Christ.

A similar cautionary argument could be applied to historical narratives of exorcisms—though their intent is not to entertain, which is a significant difference—or dramatic works on the psychology of sin such as C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters. Some shadows are best left uncharted, and some evils are best held at bay. Catholics would do better to rejoice in the Light of the Word rather than waste time recoiling before the prince of darkness.

The Ritual is too much about evil, and as such, it isn’t a good film. It reminds Catholics to be guarded and prudent when it comes to examining or encountering the wickedness and snares of the enemy.