"The Ritual" Got It Wrong—And We Still Do

When I first saw the trailer for The Ritual, my stomach turned. There, on the screen, was a reenactment of Emma Schmidt’s exorcism—a woman, bound to a bed, while a priest stood over her invoking sacred words. The camera lingered on her struggle: body thrashing, voice distorted, sacred objects pressing upon her like instruments of force. The filmmakers call this a tale of triumph over evil. But beneath the surface, another story was being told—one far more disturbing. And tragically, the instincts portrayed on screen — restraint, force, spectacle — still find echoes in how exorcism and deliverance are practiced, misunderstood, and sensationalized today.