Behind the Scenes of "The Ritual" with Film Director David Midell

Godsplaining

Dominican Friars Province of St. Joseph

Religion & Spirituality

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2026

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Do we have too many movies about exorcisms? What makes this story different and worth telling? Filmmaker David Midell joins Fr. Patrick on this episode of Guestsplaining to give us a look into the reality of filming a modern movie about an exorcism - but not just any exorcism, the one and only supernatural experience that inspired, "The Exorcist." Where to watch: https://www.theritualmovie.com/ Send your questions for the friars to:godsplaining@opeast.org Subscribe to our channelhttps://www.youtube.com/c/Godsplaining Support the Podcast Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/godsplaining Shop our merch store: https://godsplaining.org/store/ Shop Books Written by the FriarsYour Eucharistic Identity: https://ignatius.com/your-eucharistic-identity-yeip/St. Dominic's Way of Life: https://www.amazon.com/Saint-Dominics-Way-Life-Knowing/dp/1681929392Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly: https://www.amazon.com/Prudence-Choose-Confidently-Live-Boldly/dp/1681927322/ Connect on Social MediaFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/godsplaining/Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/godsplaining/Follow us on X: https://x.com/godsplaining To learn more about the Province of St. Joseph visit: www.opeast.orgTo support the Province of St. Joseph visit: www.dominicanfriars.org

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, guys, Father Patrick here, and this is Godsplining.
0:08.8	I am so happy to welcome our noble guest today, David Medell, who is the director of a film
0:14.8	that you need to see, The Ritual, which has just recently hit theaters here.
0:19.3	We are so happy to have you joining us today to talk about this film.
0:23.3	I think one of the best parts about this movie is that it's going to touch on a lot of themes
0:27.9	that are very top of mind for our listeners.
0:30.4	So, David, thanks so much for joining us.
0:32.8	Of course.
0:33.3	Thanks for having me.
0:35.5	So I've got to ask the big question right away.
0:39.1	Why do we need another movie about exorcism?
0:43.0	That's a very good question.
0:44.8	And it's a, it's a, what's the word?
0:49.8	It is a, it's a fair one.
0:51.9	Because there's been a lot of films about exorcism.
0:54.7	A lot of, you know, it's almost become a subgenre of the overall horror genre.
1:01.6	And, you know, the, the reason that we wanted to tell this story was, you know, in many ways,
1:09.1	people think of the exorcist as kind of, you know, in pop culture,
1:15.2	it's sort of thought of as sort of the granddaddy of all exorcism films.
1:21.1	And for good reason.
1:24.2	But what really fascinated me about this story was that this is actually one of the primary
1:31.4	real life accounts that the author William Peter Blattie used to develop his original novel,
	...

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