The 2025 horror film The Ritual avoids the typical pitfalls of the overly saturated exorcism genre by grounding itself in one of the most thoroughly documented real-life cases of demonic possession in American history. The film focuses on the harrowing experiences of Emma Schmidt, a woman in 1928 Iowa who undergoes a series of exorcisms performed by two priests with clashing beliefs. While one priest is a veteran exorcist, the other is a younger cleric grappling with a crisis of faith, forcing the two to set aside their differences to confront the forces tormenting the woman. By focusing on the historical record, the film explores themes of faith, doubt, and the nature of evil in a way that is less sensational and more psychologically disturbing than many of its contemporaries.