Al Pacino's Casting for 2025 Horror Movie Continues an Exciting Genre Trend That's Dominated 2024

Al Pacino to Star Alongside Dan Stevens in Upcoming Demonic Possession Film The Ritual in 2025, which will continue an exciting trend that has dominated horror films over the past year. Scheduled for release in April 2025, The Ritual will feature Pacino and Stevens as two troubled priests who team up to perform a series of exorcisms on a young American woman. The film is based on a real-world exorcism as it follows the ordeal of Emma Schmidt, whose exorcism is one of the best-documented cases on record.

Horror in general is having a resurgence from both a quality and box office standpoint, as production companies like Neon and A24 have brought scary stories to the big screen for relatively small dollar amounts, with tremendous results. The inclusion of Dan Stevens in The Ritual is exciting thanks to his extensive horror experience, but it's Pacino's inclusion in the cast that's of real interest, and that's largely due to a trend that began in earnest in 2024.

Al Pacino is the latest Hollywood star to star in a high-profile horror film

Horror has attracted some of the biggest names in the industry

With more and more high-quality stories told through a horror lens in film, the genre has started to attract some big names for its leading roles. The rise of high-concept horror has yielded a slew of incredible films which feature real Hollywood A-listers in major roles. Last year, several Oscar winners starred in bona fide horror films, which would have been considered unusual five years ago.

Halle Berry, who won an Oscar in 2002 for her performance in Monster Ballstarred in the post-apocalyptic supernatural horror film Never let gowhile BAFTA award winner Hugh Grant recently starred in the mind-bending psychological/religious horror film Heretic. Oscar winner (and multiple nominee) Nicolas Cage starred in two horror films in 2024: the surprise hit Long legs and the underrated post-apocalyptic horror film Arcadian. Pacino's debut The Ritual proves that audiences can continue to wait for A-listers to embrace horror.

Why More Iconic Actors Are Committing to Horror

Horror is evolving into a more respected form of cinema

Horror has historically been overlooked as a film genre for a number of reasons; budgets are typically low and the focus is often on gore and spectacle as opposed to high-quality writing, even pacing, and exceptional camera work. Film critics in particular have dismissed horror, as the genre has historically not paid attention to the elements they seek, such as narrative strength and cinematic technique. However, a new wave of creators have fully embraced these elements, often maintaining a low-budget mentality, which has attracted higher caliber players.

Horror films have avoided body counts and senseless violence in favor of well-developed characters and poignant metaphorsall told through a frightening lens. Horror films explore deep themes in their narratives, often including trauma, grief, mental illness, isolation, and other social fears skillfully woven into a frightening story. In addition to this narrative strength, many modern horror filmmakers are experimenting with new and exciting ways to scare audiences, far beyond simple jump scares or disturbing images.

Even some of the recent horror films that a critic might consider “low” horror have exhibited elements of high-caliber filmmaking. Box office sensation Terrifying 3 contains many of the hallmarks of a low-budget 1980s horror sequel, but buried in the demonic clown antics and harrowing gore is a powerful metaphor about trauma and a hard-hitting story about the cosmic battle of good versus evil. Simply put, horror has become a much more respected form of cinemaand as a result, more of Hollywood's most talented actors and actresses are embracing it.

Top-notch acting talent means the sky's the limit for horror in 2025 and beyond

A-Listers Could Earn More Award Recognition for Legitimate Horror

With prominent actors and actresses in horror films, there is naturally more attention paid to them. As a result, it's reasonable to think that the continued trend of celebrities in horror films could lead to more formal recognition of the genre. Although there are obviously some important exceptions to the rule (e.g. The Silence of the Lambs, Jaws), Historically, horror films don't get much attention when it comes to major awards like the Oscar, the BAFTA or the Golden Globe. That could change as more and more horror films are driven by celebrities in their casts.

This shift in respect may already be underwayin truth. Osgood Perkins' Long legsstarring Nic Cage as a twisted serial killer and scream queen Maika Monroe as the FBI agent tasked with hunting him down, has already entered the 2025 Oscar race. Robert Eggers' vampire adaptation Nosferatus received surprisingly good early reviews and could be on the list for major awards in 2025. Time will tell if Al Pacino's performance in The Ritual is up there with critics and fans alike, but no matter what, its inclusion in a horror film is exciting for the genre in general.