A follow-up to 2010’s surprise horror hit THE LAST EXORCISM has been in the early planning stages since last August, and today Eli Roth and Arcade Pictures have finally spilled the beans on what we can expect…

As we’d hoped, the sequel will be a continuation of the story depicted in the first (as opposed to simply knocking this out with a new cast, a similarly themed story, and dumping it straight to DVD). That means the freakishly limber Ashley Bell (above, doing her thang) is set to return to the role of Nell Sweetzer, a troubled young girl with a nasty case of possession. Or was it? (Got to cover our bases in case you haven’t seen the first).

One of the most entertaining aspects of the underrated first film was the character of Man of the Cloth, Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), who encounters Nell when he agrees to perform the ‘last exorcism’ of the title. The genius here was that Marcus was a total fraudster, and had lost his faith in the church a long time ago. He even allows the documentary crew doing a story on him to follow him to the Sweetzer farm to show the world just what a crock of shite this whole exorcism thing really is. Of course, events don’t turn out how he expects. Or do they! (Again, covering our arse here). Given the film’s audience-dividing ending (I personally loved it) producer Eli Roth hasn’t confirmed whether Fabian will return, only that the film will pick up three months after the events we saw. 

Roth and co. are also staying schtum on whether this will adopt the documentary, found-footage feel of the original, but it’s promised that the the film will have a “bigger scale”, so we’re guessing this will see the story play out in a more traditional narrative. The film will also shoot for an R rating as opposed to the first’s PG-13, delivering a “profoundly scarier chapter to Nell’s battle between good and evil”. 

Sounds good to us.

Ed Gass-Donnelly, director of SMALL TOWN MURDER SONGS will helm THE LAST EXORCISM 2 (or whatever they end up calling it, because let’s face it, it’s a bit of an oxymoron) from a screenplay by buzz-worthy new writer Damien Chazelle. Shooting begins next month for a 2013 release.

Looking forward to this? Where can the story go after ‘that’ ending? Share your thoughts with fellow readers in the Comments section below or on Twitter @Starburst_Mag