THE RITE Review (1-1/2 out of 5 stars)

Guilty of the deadliest sin in storytelling: it will bore you silly.

I couldn’t help but laugh to myself at the caveats THE RITE's credits kept hurling at its viewers, whether the official line that it’s “inspired” by true events, the strangely ambiguous description of its relationship to Matt Baglio's The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, or its damning disclaimer at the end, “This is a work of fiction.” But whether it's a work of fiction, non-, or exists in some factual purgatory between the two, in the end what matters most is whether the story it delivers is a compelling one, and in that respect it indubitably fails.

Seminary student Michael Kovak (played by newcomer Colin O'Donoghue) is sent to the Vatican learn about exorcisms; he’s told it’s an appropriate experience for potential clergymen like himself: full of promise – and full of doubt. In Rome he shadows the kindly but mysterious Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), an actual exorcist plagued by his own struggles with his faith. 

Director Mikael Hafstroem (1408, plus a number of films I’d never heard of) thus takes on a subject already explosively introduced to moviegoers in 1973, the groundbreaking horror classic THE EXORCIST. As proof of how revered the film continues to be, The Library of Congress announced just over a month ago that they’d selected William Friedkin’s film for the National Films Registry, reserved for films deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” And while Linda Blair and her pea soup opened almost forty years ago, a new generation has since become accustomed to the theme of “The power of Christ compels you!” on the big screen. THE EXORCIST’s lame sequels not withstanding, in recent years alone we’ve been spooked (or not) by THE LAST EXORCISM (2010), THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE (2005), EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING (2004), DOMINION: PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST (2004) and STIGMATA (1999). And that doesn't even include the laundry list featuring demonic possession in all its other various stripes - pardon the pun, but such movies are legion. The LA Times recently posted a slide show citing everything from PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and JENNIFER’S BODY in the 2000’s to THE SHINING and AMITYVILLE HORROR in the 70’s.

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