The devil is in the details this summer as The Ritual, a harrowing supernatural horror rooted in historical fact, arrives in UK and Irish cinemas on 30 May. Starring screen icon Al Pacino and genre regular Dan Stevens, the film is inspired by the infamous case of Emma Schmidt, whose documented exorcisms in 1928 remain some of the most chilling accounts in American religious history.

Directed by David Midell and co-written with longtime collaborator Enrico Natale, The Ritual promises to deliver a grounded yet terrifying portrait of spiritual warfare. Pacino steps into the role of Father Theophilus Riesinger, a German-American priest whose real-life attempts to banish the demonic from Schmidt’s tormented body became legend within Catholic and paranormal circles alike. Stevens portrays Father Joseph Steiger, a younger priest whose scepticism and fractured past make him a reluctant ally in the fight for Emma’s soul.

The film also stars Ashley Greene...