Inspired by true events, The Rite is a creaky supernatural thriller that projectile vomits scenes of demonic possession, familiar from The Exorcist and other cinematic battles between men of faith and the Devil.

Mikael Hafstrom’s plodding film is enlivened sporadically by scenery-chewing from Sir Anthony Hopkins, embracing his dark side with flashes of mordant humour in scenes that recall his signature role as Hannibal Lecter.

Alas, leading man Colin O’Donoghue, who makes his feature film debut, is bland in comparison and when the plot pits him against his illustrious, Oscar-winning co-star, the subsequent verbal tug of war with Hopkins is completely one-sided.

Screenwriter Michael Petroni is ill-equipped to generate dramatic tension and he constantly interrupts the narrative flow with flashbacks.

For the most part, audiences are more likely to doze in their seats than jump out of them.

Undertaker Istvan Kovak (Rutger Hauer) raises his son Michael Kovak (O’Donoghue) to honour the dead, even inviting the boy to watch as he prepares his mother for the casket.

‘We serve the dead.

We don’t talk about them – it brings bad things,’ advises Istvan.

Michael decides not to continue the family tradition but enrols instead as a seminary student under Father Matthew (Toby Jones).

A crisis of faith leads him to tender his resignation from the course just shy of graduation.

Father Matthew suggests that Michael could rediscover his faith by studying exorcism at the Vatican.

‘Two months in Rome.

How bad can that be?’ smiles the holy man.

And so Michael heads to Italy where he clashes with course tutor Father Xavier (Ciaran Hinds) and sparks an attraction to journalist Angeline (Alice Braga), who is hoping to write a feature on the dangers of exorcism.

Michael is dispatched to learn from unorthodox holy man Father Lucas (Hopkins), who has performed thousands of spiritual cleansings.

Contact with a possessed pregnant girl challenges everything that Michael believes in and he seeks sanctuary in the words of Father Lucas, who warns, ‘Choosing not to believe in the Devil won’t protect you from him.’ The Rite is ho-hum hokum, shot on location in Rome in iconic piazzas flanked by the Tiber river.

Hafstrom errs away from cheap shocks, which might have quickened our pulses, preferring a low rumble of impending doom that never explodes into full-blown terror.

Hopkins is always watchable but his theatrics in the final half hour are hammy and O’Donoghue fails to counterbalance with any sound and fury of his own.

Braga, who has seemingly been invented for the film, is completely redundant and unsurprisingly spends most of a pivotal scene unconscious.

Bored audiences won’t be far behind her.

• Release Date: Friday 25 February 2011
• Certificate: 15
• Runtime: 113mins