'The Last Exorcism' Begins Filming Sequel

That didn’t take long. With the moderate success of The Devil Inside and the Paranormal Activity franchise closely becoming the new horror genre trend, it’s no surprise that producer Eli Roth (Hostel) would want to capitalize on the possession film. The PG-13 film The Last Exorcism grossed $68 million on a budget less that $2 million, is set to begin shooting its R-rated sequel next month with a new director, Ed Gass-Donnely (Small Town Murder Songs).

Eli Roth had this to say about the sequel:

"[I'm] very, very excited to continue this story… Obviously with the title of the first one we had not planned on a sequel, but welovethe story and subject matter and had what we feel is an inspired idea to continue it. 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 tentatively title The Last Exorcism 2 is said to pick up three months after the events of the last film and will continue the story of Nell Sweetzer, Ashley Bell will be reprising her role and will be written by Damien Chazelle.

Including Eli Roth, the film will also be produced through Arcade Picture by Eric newman, Marc Abraham and Tom Bliss, producing through Strike Entertainment. Studiocanal will also be “fully finance[d] and kick off international sales at the European Film Market in Berlin next month.” Newman also spoke briefly about the sequel:

 “On behalf of the producing team, we are excited to put the next installment of Nell’s story in the capable hands of Ed Gass-Donnelly. His naturalistic style and performance-based filmmaking make him the perfect choice.”

Studiocanal EVP of international distribution, Harold Van Lier, humourously added:

“We are horrified to bring to the marketplace the eagerly awaited sequel to our 2010 worldwide hit. This much bigger scale movie will unravel a profoundly scarier chapter to Nell’s battle between good and evil. God have mercy.”

The film is expected to hit theaters late 2012.