The Last Exorcism from 2010 did quite well, making a good amount of profit from a small amount of cash spent, eventually earning back about about 50 times its budget. A sequel has been moving pretty slowly through the ranks, initially wanting to get started last year, but couldn’t. Now, the follow-up is getting underway, and the Lionsgate film already has a returning star, a director, and a production start date that could easily mean we’ll see the film by the time the summer is up.
We'll be seeing more of Nell in the sequel
Deadline reports that Ed Gass-Donnelly will be helming the upcoming sequel, which will have a subtitled sequel name instead of ‘The Last Exorcism 2′. Eli Roth will be returning as one of the handful of people producing the film. Unlike its PG-13 predecessor, the sequel will be a rated R hand held horror film. While that may worry some, as rating changes between films tend to shy some people away from sequels, the performance of The Devil Inside may be an indication that R-rated horror films may have a great year in 2012.
Roth says, ”I’m very, very excited to continue to this story. Obviously with the title of the first one we had not planned on a sequel, but we love the story and subject matter and had what we feel is an inspired idea to continue it. As you can see from other recent films, fans around the world are fascinated by this subject matter, and we want to go deeper and darker this time. The first film worked great as a PG-13 psychological film, but now we want to go R-rated and show the true horror of what this subject matter offers. The biggest creative challenge will be coming up with the right title!”
The returning cast member, and only one confirmed thus far, will be Ashley Bell reprising her role as the possessed Nell Sweetzer. No word yet if any other cast member will appear in the sequel, but given the shocking ending to the first film, it’s very likely that Bell will be the only returning player.
Production will begin in New Orleans, where the first film was shot/set, next month. When the film will be released is unknown, but by the end of the year is certainly not out of the question. The film will take place three months after the end of the first movie, but other than that, plot details are kept secret.
