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By Sckylar Gibby-Brown
| Updated
Morgan Freeman has appeared in just about every kind of movie imaginable throughout his legendary career, from acclaimed dramas to blockbuster action films. One of his lesser-known projects is 2023’s The Ritual Killera crime thriller that pairs the Academy Award winner with Yellowstone star Cole Hauser for a dark story involving ritualistic murders, an aging detective, and a killer who leaves a trail of bodies across Mississippi.
Directed by George Gallo, The Ritual Killer stars Morgan Freeman as Dr. Mackles, an anthropologist who teaches at a local college. Hauser co-stars as a detective on the brink of retirement who is struggling to cope with the death of his daughter. Working together, the pair set out to track down a vicious killer on a murder spree throughout Carlton, Mississippi.
An Independent Effort With Casting Clout
The Ritual Killer first went into production in 2021 and it was announced that Gallo would direct a film called Mutinamed after the dark magic that the serial killer practices in the film. Later, the film was renamed The Ritual Killer to draw emphasis on the terrible rituals that the killer performs before taking his victims’ lives. Soon after Gallo was signed on to the project, Morgan Freeman, Cole Hauser, Peter Stormare, and Vernon Davis joined the cast.
It took a collective of imaginations to draw together the script for The Ritual Killerwith Robert T. Bowersox, Jennifer Lemmon, Francesco Cinquemani, Giorgia Iannone, Luca Giliberto, and Ferdinando Dell’Omo all coming together to write the script, with story help from Joe Lemmon. Morgan Freeman and the rest of the cast filmed in late summer 2021 in Jackson, Mississippi, with additional footage captured in Rome, Italy.
While The Ritual Killer managed to snag some major Hollywood clout by hiring blockbuster names like Morgan Freeman, the film remained a low-budget independent feature produced by Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment.
The film was made with an estimated budget of somewhere between $7 and $17 million and was given a limited release in theaters. While the film was also released on demand, the main mode of distribution for this action-thriller was through Redbox locations on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Unfortunately, despite Morgan Freeman and Cole Hauser being attached to the project, the film was barely marketed and it ended up scoring only $281,150 after release, with the majority of the audience coming from Russia.
However, while this resulted in a major loss for the studios in charge of The Ritual Killerits streaming comeback on Hulu might be able to repair some of the financial damage, though turning a profit for the film seems unlikely.
Morgan Freeman at 89
Despite being 89 years old, Morgan Freeman is not looking to retire any time soon. The Ritual Killer was one of five projects the actor had released in 2023 alone. He also starred next to Florence Pugh in A Good Persona drama by Zach Braff that was released in March 2023 about a woman whose life falls apart after being involved in a lethal accident.
Even in his late 80s, Morgan Freeman continues to work, and The Ritual Killer was never going to be among his final projects, adding to a filmography that already stretches well past the 100-credit mark. More than 60 years into his career, Freeman remains one of Hollywood’s most prolific performers, and there is little reason to think he’ll be stepping away anytime soon.
While Freeman has been in some incredible movies that are now deemed classics (looking at you, Shawshank Redemption), he’s also been in quite a few duds. In fact, The Ritual Killer is considered by critics to be one of these duds, with Rotten Tomatoes giving the movie only an 11 percent approval rating.
Still, people on Hulu (and in Russia) seem to like it. So, if you’re down to watch something new and are a fan of Morgan Freeman’s acting prowess, consider adding The Ritual Killer to your movie list.
