Al Pacino and Dan Stevens reunited in an exorcism film

Al Pacino and Dan Stevens reunited in an exorcism film

Based on a true story, The Ritual features two priests casting out demons from a young woman.

In horror cinema, exorcism films are popular. After having played the devil himself in The Devil's Associate, Al Pacino takes it down a notch slightly to put on a pastoral dress. Next to Dan Stevens – who has been making horror films for some time now with The Good Apostle, Abigail and soon Cuckoo – he tries exorcism.

Hunter Schafer in the mysterious Cuckoo teaser

In David Midell's new film, Al Pacino plays a priest with a troubled past and Dan Stevens, a religious man who doubts his faith. The two men will have to put aside their differences to save the possessed soul of a young woman through a series of exorcisms, each more dangerous than the last. An air of déjà vu which is defended with a good argument: it is a true story and not the least, that of the most studied case of possession.

In the United States, Anna Ecklund, whose pseudonym Emma Schmidt was under the influence of demons from the age of fourteen until she was 46. Her longest exorcism lasted four months – from August 18 to December 23, 1928. The story goes that several spirits had taken possession of her soul – notably Judas and Jacob, Anna's late father who allegedly tried to abuse her. her during her lifetime.

This event is so strange that even the TIME Magazine dedicated an article to him in 1936. We can read there:

“Sisters, using the strength of their arms, tied her up and placed her on her bed. But soon after Father Theophilus began a long series of prayers and ordered the demons to leave 'at the speed of light'the possessed woman broke away from her bed and from the hands of those who protected her, and her body carried through the air landed above the door where she clung to the wall with claws resembling those of cats .”

Tea Ritual will be presented at the Cannes film market this year in search of international distributors and could be released in 2025. For his part, the 83-year-old actor has a completely different project and is working on Amedeo Modigliani's biopic for Johnny Depp.

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