At 84, Oscar Winner Stars in Terrifying True Story Film This Summer!

The release date for the horror film “The Ritual – The Exorcism of Emma Schmidt,” starring Al Pacino and Dan Stevens, has been announced by the French distributor KMBO. Directed by David Midell, the film will hit theaters on June 11th.

The 84-year-old actor plays a priest who attempts, with the help of a colleague, to save a young woman who is possessed.

After portraying the Devil in Taylor Hackford’s “The Devil’s Advocate” in 1997, the iconic actor will now confront him. He is supported by Dan Stevens, known for his roles in “Godzilla x Kong” and the recent horror film “Abigail.” Ashley Greene (Twilight) and Abigail Cowen also feature in this film inspired by a true story.

Based on a True Possession Case

The Ritual draws inspiration from an actual exorcism that took place in the United States in 1928. Emma Schmidt, who used the pseudonym Anna Ecklund, is still to this day the most documented case of exorcism in American history. It was even featured in a Time magazine article in 1936.

Her alleged demonic possession and numerous exorcisms spanned several decades, culminating with an intense exorcism that lasted from August 18 to December 23, 1928, in Earling, Iowa. The young woman reportedly began showing symptoms of possession at the age of 14. She was 46 years old at the time of her final exorcism by Father Theophilus Riesinger.

The Ritual – The Exorcism of Emma Schmidt will be released in theaters on June 11.