Talk about misleading movie titles. It’s being reported by Deadline that production on a sequel to producer Eli Roth’s horror hit The Last Exorcism (or what I’m now calling The Next To Last Exorcism) is scheduled to begin next month in New Orleans. Roth will return to produce, while Ed Gass-Donnelly (The Beautiful City, Small Town Murder Songs) will replace Daniel Stamm as director.
The R-rated follow-up will continue the storyline of the 2010 PG-13 found footage film with a screenplay written by Damien Chazelle. The (Next To) Last Exorcism followed a disillusioned Southern preacher out to debunk the practice of exorcism, only to find himself taking on a very possessed and very dangerous young woman. Apparently, the sequel will pick up three months from where the original left off, and will see the return of Ashley Bell, the surprisingly flexible actress who played exorcisee, Nell Sweetzer.
According to Roth, the decision to make a sequel — in spite of what the title suggests — was natural considering the success of other recent films with similar subject matter. I can only assume he’s referring to The Devil Inside, which took in a record-breaking $34.5 million during its opening weekend, despite poor reviews, and has since grossed over $49 million.
As he also said:
“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!”
StudioCanal will finance the film, which is expected to release in late 2012.
What do you think the sequel should be titled? Why do you think exorcism movies are so successful?