Joseph Tralongo is a playwright and screenwriter who approaches storytelling with a deep respect for film’s ability to distill human behavior into meaningful moments. His personal work- i.e. his plays, screenplays, and films- leans into semantic tension, moral ambiguity, and the quiet unraveling of social dynamics- not to preach, but to parse. For him, writing is a slow excavation of truth through craft. With a background in theatre and independent film, he brings a structural precision and dramatic instinct to every film he reviews. Hollywood Insider’s mission to champion substance over spectacle aligns with Joseph’s belief that storytelling should investigate, not dictate.
Jun 14, 2025
Table of Contents
Hell of a Role
Al Pacino recently took on the role of a Catholic priest confronting the Devil himself. The (for lack of a congruent term of what he brings to any role) gravitas of Pacino anchors Father Theophilus Riesinger, the German-born Capuchin priest who famously endured a grueling four-month battle to reclaim Schmidt’s soul from demonic control.
Set in 1928 Iowa and steeped in the scorched bones of American demonology, ‘The Ritual’ follows two priests- one devout but fractured, the other wavering in faith- tasked with exorcising a woman gripped by violent possession. This isn’t just another fictional horror tale. The film is based directly on Begone Satan!, the 1935 pamphlet detailing the real-life exorcism of Emma Schmidt, a documented case so harrowing it has long haunted the fringe between folklore and faith. The same material inspired William Peter Blatty’s ‘The Exorcist’ and, eventually, William Friedkin’s landmark 1973 film.
Joining Pacino is Dan Stevens as Father Joseph Steiger, a younger priest witnessing the horror firsthand. Abigail Cowen portrays the tormented Emma Schmidt with a rawness that attempts to ground the supernatural in psychological reality. And Ashley Greene appears as Sister Rose, a character invented to bridge the spiritual and emotional divide in the increasingly chaotic exorcism. Directed by David Midell (‘The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain’) and co-written by Midell and Enrico Natale, the film comes with a textured and intentional creative team- cinematography by Adam Biddle (‘The Descent’), score by Jason Lazarus and Joseph Trapanese, and production handled by Cinemachine Shop and Andrew Stevens Entertainment. It is distributed by XYZ Films, a company known for genre fare with international ambition.
Yet while ‘The Ritual’ seeks to resurrect one of the most notorious and spiritually charged cases of possession in U.S. history, it also functions as a resurrection of a different kind: Al Pacino entering the horror genre for the first time in his six-decade-long career.
There is certainly a precedent for this kind of late-career genre pivot- and it’s a rich and fascinating one. Gregory Peck, long regarded as the embodiment of moral uprightness in films like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, spent decades representing reason and righteousness before ‘The Omen’ (1976) made him a believer in evil incarnate. It was a chilling twist in his legacy that proved deeply effective. Anthony Hopkins dipped his toe into horror-adjacent waters with ‘Audrey Rose’ (1977), then spiraled into psychological madness in ‘Magic’ (1978) before terrifying the world as Hannibal Lecter in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, cementing one of the most indelible horror performances of all time.
Pacino, like those before him, now answers horror’s call. His presence as Riesinger is both calculated and chaotic- his voice and physicality drawing attention even in moments where the camera stays still for too long. This performance places him among a lineage of actors who found, in fear, new creative life. Not reinvention through awards-season prestige, but through genre work that forces a confrontation with mortality, madness, or malevolence.
After such a storied Hollywood career, which ranges from ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ to William Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ to Adam Sandler’s ‘Jack and Jill’, it is flabbergasting to realize that Al Pacino has never done a horror film.
However, Pacino has always been surprising. After all, this genre departure is hardly the wildest of his recent chapter. In 2023, he welcomed a new child- Roman- with partner Noor Alfallah. At an age where most actors are celebrated with retrospectives and lifetime achievement awards, Pacino is still chasing the next strange thing. This unpredictability- both on-screen and off-screen- is essential to his legacy. He’s a performer in perpetual motion- less interested in preserving myth than in making noise, pursuing the passion he found in a flash of inspiration that he describes in his recent biography- Sonny Boy– where he felt a door open to “the living spirit of energy” that cemented his ambition to devote his entire life to acting.
From quite the moment he started, from his sixty-second screen debut as a hysterically direct lothario in ‘Me, Natalie’, Pacino has long confounded expectations. He exploded into film history in ‘The Godfather’ (1972)- only two years after winning the Tony for his run in Does the Tiger Wear a Necktie? in 1969- and spent the following decades as a snarling, sweaty centerpiece of American cinema. But somehow, horror eluded him. ‘Cruising’ (1980), often cited as a near miss, is more psycho-sexual noir than traditional horror. And ‘The Devil’s Advocate’? A campy legal thriller with a supernatural twist- but no real scares. If anything, its lasting appeal lies more in Pacino’s operatic glee than in any legitimate sense of dread.
Barry Levinson’s ‘The Humbling’ (2014) came closest. That performance- a fading actor spiraling into madness- carried the queasy disorientation of a psychological horror, even if the film refused the genre label. Still, Pacino’s post-‘Scent of a Woman’ era has been defined by a kind of glorious abandon. As comedian Neil Brennan joked in his Netflix special ‘3 Mics’ re that specific performance, “Al Pacino finally said [when he decided to do ‘Scent of a Woman’], ‘I can’t play people.’” What he plays now is force. Volume. Ghosts of himself. That’s what made ‘The Ritual’ seem, on paper, like a perfect fit.
Instead, ‘The Ritual’ may go down as another missed chance in the ever-growing library of failed exorcism movies. But the idea- Al Pacino, eyes wild, voice raised, going toe-to-toe with Satan in a haunted room in Iowa- remains perfect in theory, because horror is the only genre generous enough to let you yell at the Devil and still be taken seriously, even lauded.
Click here to read The Hollywood Insider’s CEO Pritan Ambroase’s love letter to Cinema, TV and Media. An excerpt from the love letter: The Hollywood Insider’s CEO/editor-in-chief Pritan Ambroase affirms, “We have the space and time for all your stories, no matter who/what/where you are. Media/Cinema/TV have a responsibility to better the world and The Hollywood Insider will continue to do so. Talent, diversity and authenticity matter in Cinema/TV, media and storytelling. In fact, I reckon that we should announce “talent-diversity-authenticity-storytelling-Cinema-Oscars-Academy-Awards” as synonyms of each other. We show respect to talent and stories regardless of their skin color, race, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality, etc., thus allowing authenticity into this system just by something as simple as accepting and showing respect to the human species’ factual diversity. We become greater just by respecting and appreciating talent in all its shapes, sizes, and forms. Award winners, which includes nominees, must be chosen on the greatness of their talent ALONE.
I am sure I am speaking for a multitude of Cinema lovers all over the world when I speak of the following sentiments that this medium of art has blessed me with. Cinema taught me about our world, at times in English and at times through the beautiful one-inch bar of subtitles. I learned from the stories in the global movies that we are all alike across all borders. Remember that one of the best symbols of many great civilizations and their prosperity has been the art they have left behind. This art can be in the form of paintings, sculptures, architecture, writings, inventions, etc. For our modern society, Cinema happens to be one of them. Cinema is more than just a form of entertainment, it is an integral part of society. I love the world uniting, be it for Cinema, TV, media, art, fashion, sport, etc.
Joseph Tralongo is a playwright and screenwriter who approaches storytelling with a deep respect for film’s ability to distill human behavior into meaningful moments. His personal work- i.e. his plays, screenplays, and films- leans into semantic tension, moral ambiguity, and the quiet unraveling of social dynamics- not to preach, but to parse. For him, writing is a slow excavation of truth through craft. With a background in theatre and independent film, he brings a structural precision and dramatic instinct to every film he reviews. Hollywood Insider’s mission to champion substance over spectacle aligns with Joseph’s belief that storytelling should investigate, not dictate.
Joseph Tralongo is a playwright and screenwriter who approaches storytelling with a deep respect for film’s ability to distill human behavior into meaningful moments. His personal work- i.e. his plays, screenplays, and films- leans into semantic tension, moral ambiguity, and the quiet unraveling of social dynamics- not to preach, but to parse. For him, writing is a slow excavation of truth through craft. With a background in theatre and independent film, he brings a structural precision and dramatic instinct to every film he reviews. Hollywood Insider’s mission to champion substance over spectacle aligns with Joseph’s belief that storytelling should investigate, not dictate.
Joseph Tralongo is a playwright and screenwriter who approaches storytelling with a deep respect for film’s ability to distill human behavior into meaningful moments. His personal work- i.e. his plays, screenplays, and films- leans into semantic tension, moral ambiguity, and the quiet unraveling of social dynamics- not to preach, but to parse. For him, writing is a slow excavation of truth through craft. With a background in theatre and independent film, he brings a structural precision and dramatic instinct to every film he reviews. Hollywood Insider’s mission to champion substance over spectacle aligns with Joseph’s belief that storytelling should investigate, not dictate.
