In a shocking turn of events, the latest horror film, The Ritual, has stumbled out of the gate with a dismal 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes. This isn’t just any horror entry; it’s a movie that aimed to tap into the dark lore surrounding exorcisms, yet critics are unleashing their fury, resulting in the lowest possible rating on the review aggregator. If you’re a horror aficionado, you know the genre often dances between brilliance and disaster. Classics like Get Out (98%), The Silence of the Lambs (95%), and Psycho (97%) sit alongside infamous duds like Jaws: The Revenge (2%) and Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (3%). Clearly, the pendulum swings both ways.
The Ritual: A Critical Fail
The New Exorcism Movie Stars Al Pacino
The Ritual, directed by David Midell and starring acclaimed actor Al Pacino, centers around priests Theophilus Riesinger and Joseph Steiger, portrayed by Pacino and Dan Stevens, who are reluctantly brought together to perform an exorcism on a possessed woman named Emma Schmidt, played by Abigail Cowen. Despite the star-studded cast, which also includes Ashley Greene and Patricia Heaton, the film has been met with relentless criticism. Among the 26 reviews logged so far, every single one has been negative.
Al Pacino has been nominated for nine Oscars, clinching one for his performance in Scent of a Woman.
As it stands, The Ritual is on track to cement its place among the worst-reviewed horror films in recent memory. The official Rotten Tomatoes score showcases a stark absence of love from critics, with ratings often hitting rock bottom at 0.5 stars. Should this trend persist, the movie would join an exclusive club of cinematic flops, potentially landing it in the company of other notorious titles like 2008’s One Missed Call and The Disappointments Room.
What Lies Ahead For The Ritual
What does a 0% score really mean for The Ritual? If the score stays unchanged, it could represent the first major horror title of the 2020s to earn such a dubious honor, making it eligible for Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the worst-reviewed horror movies of all time. The implications are significant: The Ritual may not only go down in infamy for its critical failure but also affect Pacino’s illustrious career in a genre that has proven challenging even for the best.
Scheduled for release on June 6, 2025, the true test for The Ritual is not just at the box office but how this all-star cast can bounce back from such a critical epic fail. Will audiences flock to see what all the buzz is about, or will The Ritual be forgotten in the annals of horror history? Time will tell.