I grew up around the golden age of cinematic horror when the genre was still a dusty and dirty thing trying to find its footing in an industry that really had no respect for such bloody and frightening fare. Films like Halloween, The Exorcist, and Rosemary’s Baby helped usher in and make popular a once looked down upon section of the cinematic community.

With all things being cyclical, the horror industry has seen its share of fads. From its early, more eerily atmospheric beginnings in films like M (1931), to zany, spaced out fare like The Creature from The Black Lagoon (1954), the genre has incorporated many sub-genres that have all seen their fair shake at the box-office. The slasher sub-genre throughout the 80’s gave way to the even more ultraviolent “torture-porn” films such as Saw, Hostel, and Final Destination, and although those series did well in theatres, it seems as though the general public has had their fill of the copious amounts of blood, guts, and bad acting that the horror-meisters of Hollywood have afforded them.

Thus we are entering a new era of horror, one more based in the psychological (cyclical, you see?) where buckets of blood and gristle no longer satiate the appetite of those looking for a good scare. Films like Paranormal Activity, and Insidious have proven that the only thing more terrifying than the dark are the creatures you imagine scraping away in the corner of your closet within the recesses of your mind.

The Rite is the kind of film that relies more on its ability to summon the demons in your conscious and it comes very close to doing it well. The film follows a young seminary student, Michael Kovak, who heads to the Vatican to partake in a series of classes meant to teach the rite of exorcism. A scientist, and semi-atheist at heart, Michael is sent to Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins) in hopes of proving to the young student that demons, heaven, and hell do exist. Lucas is one of the pre-eminent figures in the realm of performing exorcisms, and while his methods are unorthodox and controversial, Michael, little by little begins to question his own beliefs and in the end he realizes he must choose which side of the God-fearing fence to stand on.

Mikael Håfström, whose previous work includes the devilishly delicious 1408, is quite good at creating a creepy atmosphere within the space of his sets and camera frame. The Rite is a film bleached of its color; dark blues, blacks, and deep greens fill the palette of the mise en scène, which all work well thanks to the fantastic use of lighting throughout the piece. It’s all very nice on the eyes; none of the colors trump each other

(which tends to happen with some darkly colored films) and the use of vertical lines to frame the characters in the scenes show some mastery of the craft by Håfström and cinematographer Ben Davis (Kick-Ass, Layer Cake).

Anthony Hopkins, a legendary actor who never disappoints with his performances, once again proves why he’s such an amazing talent. Hopkins’ portrayal of Lucas is a bit different from what I expected. His Lucas is a bit of a free-form exorcist who doesn’t take the devil lightly, and yet Hopkins still finds space to add nuances that reveal the priest is not just a gung-ho demon slayer but also a regular Joe who happens to be very good at evicting malevolent spirits. It is these layers of complexity that Sir Anthony adds to the character that makes Father Lucas the strongest commodity of this film.

The Blu-ray features will give you some supernatural bang for your buck. A featurette on the character who inspired Father Lucas plus an alternate ending, and a look into a real exorcism academy are all worth a look, but ultimately the features are a bit thin in magnitude.

The Rite’s missteps seem to reside in the pacing and execution of the script. The film comes close to eliciting the kind of chills one would want in a scary flick with the ever present danger of demons growing more and more apparent to young Michael, but never do we get that one great scare or image that locks us in to the film relenting to release its icy grip. It’s a shame, because The Rite does have many things going for it, but in the realm of horror one mustn’t forget the horror.