On paper this looked pretty brutal: yet another exorcism movie, released in the January dead zone. Though it looks like The Rite slightly exceeds those low expectations.
"I admire The Rite because while it delivers what I suppose should be called horror, it is atmospheric, its cinematography is eerie and evocative, and the actors enrich it."
— Roger Ebert, Variety"While marred by cheap tricks and borderline camp, pic comes off as a largely low-key, intelligent effort..."
— Joe Leydon, Variety"Without head spinning and bilious regurgitation, The Rite is a workmanlike B-movie that embraces as many of the genre’s clichés as a PG-13-rating allows."
— Stephen Holden, New York Times"The Rite doesn't need to execute any of its ideas, have any charm, or even be anything more than just another paint-by-numbers post-The Exorcist movie about demonic possession."
— Simon Abrams, Slant Magazine"The Rite commits the supreme sin of making the devil dull."
— Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly