Taglines: God asks. The Devil commands.
Continuing where the first film left off, Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell) is found alone and terrified in the woods. Back in the relative safety of civilization, Nell realizes that she can’t remember entire portions of the previous months only that she is the last surviving member of her family. Just as Nell begins the difficult process of starting a new life, the evil force that once possessed her is back with other, unimaginably horrific plans that mean her last exorcism was just the beginning.
The Last Exorcism Part II is an American supernatural drama horror film co-written and directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly. It stars Ashley Bell, Julia Garner, Spencer Treat Clark, David Jensen, Tarra Riggs, Louis Herthum, and Muse Watson. It is a sequel to 2010’s The Last Exorcism, and released on March 1, 2013.
The film follows Nell Sweetzer as she attempts to recover from her past experiences and start her life anew. Nell then starts to realize that the demon that previously possessed her has come back for her. Unlike its predecessor, it is not presented in a found footage format.
About the Film (2013)
Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell) is the only survivor of the shocking, horrific ritual that concludes THE LAST EXORCISM. Her journey continues in THE LAST EXORCISM PART II, though the murdered documentary crew and their camera are left behind in the bayou. Rather than using the first film’s faux-documentary approach, THE LAST EXORCISM PART II adopted a fresh storytelling perspective.
“We wanted to make a clear stylistic shift from the docu-style of the first film to a straight narrative in the sequel,” explains producer Eli Roth. “The new approach allows us to go deeper and darker. I never want to give away the secrets inside the haunted house, but now that we know who and what we’re dealing with, we really get to explore that.”
Elements of the “documentary” in THE LAST EXORCISM became a focus in its sequel. “What we decided was that within the world of THE LAST EXORCISM PART II, the first film existed. Not as a theatrical movie, but as a viral video people had seen,” Roth explains. “That felt like the smartest, most natural way to integrate the first movie while still having others in the film believe she was just a crazy girl breaking her fingers on the Internet.”
“We had done our documentary-style film,” adds executive producer Gabrielle Neimand. “That sub-genre only works if there is a valid reason for why the camera is there, and our crew died in the first film. A documentary-style film gets you in the director’s head. In this one, we wanted to tell a narrative film that got you into Nell’s.”
“One of the unanswered questions in the exorcism genre is ‘what does the demon want?'” producer Eric Newman points out. “We liked exploring the idea of what happens next. This demon and this girl have formed an intrinsic bond. They are enmeshed, and the demon can’t continue in the world without her.”
Newman, who had the initial seeds of inspiration for the first film, says his first instinct was actually to do the sequel about the town of Ivanwood in the wake of the murders in the first film. “Obviously there were lots of opportunities for scares, but I didn’t know what the movie was saying,” he says. “Then I started thinking about the power of someone accepting that they don’t need to be scared, that they are actually the one to be feared. Once I had that, we brought in Damien Chazelle to write the screenplay.”
“THE LAST EXORCISM PART II follows Nell’s journey after the events of the first film, so I think it helps paint a more complete portrait of her character,” says co-writer Damian Chazelle. “She’s truly the hero of the story and everything we see in the sequel is from her point of view.”
Some of the characters from THE LAST EXORCISM exist in the second film, but the structure shift allowed the natural inclusion of these characters in a way that ensures that those viewers who haven’t seen the first film can enjoy the new film without feeling like they missed something essential. Yet, fans of THE LAST EXORCISM will also be rewarded when they recognize characters and details in the new film that harken back to the first.
“The new approach allowed us to shift perspectives and really delve into Nell’s psyche: her past, her hopes for the future, her whole world-view,” Chazelle continues. “It felt like an opportunity to do a very classical horror film, and the resolution is something we’ve rarely seen in the exorcism genre.”
Fascinating Facts About Exorcism (2013)
• 42% of Americans believe in possession by the devil.
• The Archbishop of Calcutta ordered an exorcism performed on Mother Theresa before she died.
• The Catholic Church has at least 10 official exorcists in the US.
• By conservative estimates, there are at least five or six hundred evangelical exorcism ministries in operation today, and quite possibly two or three times this many.
• There are dozens of references of Jesus exorcising demons in the Gospels.
• Exorcism is derived from the Greek word exorkizein which means “to bind by oath”. Evil spirits (demons) which possess a person are exorcised (compelled to leave) by a higher authority, such as God or Christ. “Catholic exorcisms begin, Adjure te, spiritus nequissime, per Deum omnipotentem…which means “I adjure thee, most evil spirit, by almighty God…
• During the 1980s, the world’s largest interdenominational seminary–Pasadena’s Fuller Theological–offered a how-to exorcism course for future pastors. The class is no longer offered, however, a different version is in the works.
• Possession by evil spirits (Jinn) or the Devil (Shaitan) and exorcism is said to have been a part of Islam since its beginning. It is believed that the Jinn can gain control only over those who do not hold true to God.
• Out of nearly 1,600 Christians surveyed, 57% felt strongly that believers have the power to cast out demons in the Name of Jesus.
• The most influential of the genre (the one that started it all) is William Friedkin’s 1973 film The Exorcist that claimed to be based on real events.
• The runaway success of the movie revived the interest in the role of the devil in Christian theology and created an industry of paperbacks on Satanism, black magic, and related topics. Devil possession became almost fashionable, and priests revived long-forgotten rites of exorcism.
• The Catholic Church in Germany, however, made the exorcism ritual very difficult to obtain after the 1973 death of exorcism victim Anneliese Michel, a 23- year-old who had her first psychiatric episode at the age of 16. She apparently suffered from depression, epileptic seizures, and various hallucinations.
• A secularized version of exorcism is practiced by some therapists who specialize in unveiling and ridding their patients of “entities” which, the therapists believe, are the cause of the patient’s troubles. Entity release therapists engage in this work even though there is about as much evidence for the “entities” as there is for the devils exorcised by Catholic priests and Protestant evangelicals.
• Through the 1980s the subject of exorcism was kept alive within evangelical Christianity, especially Pentecostalism.
• No exorcism should take place without the explicit permission of the diocesan bishop, nor should exorcism be performed until possible mental or physical illness had been excluded.
• Exorcism has become somewhat institutionalized in charismatic churches, where it is referred to as “spiritual warfare.”
The Last Exorcism Part II
Directed by: Ed Gass-Donnelly
Starring: Ashley Bell, Andrew Sensenig, Spencer Treat Clark, Judd Lormand, Muse Watson, Erica Michelle, Tarra Riggs, Boyana Balta
Screenplay by: Damien Chazelle, Ed Gass-Donnelly
Production Design by: Merideth Boswell
Cinematography by: Brendan Steacy
Film Editing by: Ed Gass-Donnelly
Costume Design by: Abby O’Sullivan
Music by: Michael Wandmacher
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for horror violence, terror and brief language.
Studio. CBS Films
Release Date: March 1, 2013
Visits: 65
