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XYZ Films shares the official first trailer for the upcoming supernatural horror movie 'The Ritual' starring Al Pacino ('Serpico') and Dan Stevens ('Abigail'), in this possession movie based on the true events of the Emma Schmidt exorcisms back in 1928.
Initially, Al Pacino and Ben Foster where the ones on the front of this story as Father Theophilus Riesinger and Father Joseph Steiger respectively, but Stevens took Foster's place before shooting started in 2024, where we find out that Abigail Cowen ('Fate: The Winx Saga') was the one playing the part of Emma Schmidt, the young woman under demonic possession.
With other great actresses like Ashley Greene ('Bombshell') and Patricia Heaton ('Everybody Loves Raymond') as nuns helping take care of Emma while the Fathers perform the excruciating multiple exorcisms on her.
'The Ritual' will follow Father Teophilus (Pacino), who is struggling with his faith and his place in the church, as he has to team up with the troubled Father Joseph (Stevens), who is running from his past, to help a young woman allegedly undergoing demonic possession, a very difficult to deal with possession.
The case of Emma Schmidt is one of the most heavy cases of possession in the 20th Century according to experts in the field, so it was only a matter of time until someone decided to make a film based on this terrible story, in which they had to perform multiple exorcisms lasting up to months, with the final one lasting from August to December.
Let's see if director David Midell ('The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain') is capable of bringing this story to life in an interesting way. The film will premiere worldwide this June 6, 2025.
