Movies
‘The Last Exorcism’s Daniel Stamm Directing ‘The Devil’s Light’ for Lionsgate
Back in October, Lionsgate announced that they’re co-producing the supernatural thriller The Devil’s Light with Gold Circle and will distribute the film in North America, UK and Latin America.
At the time, it was reported that the film will be directed by James Hawes (“Black Mirror”, “Penny Dreadful”), however, things have appeared to change ahead of the EFM in Berlin.
Bloody Disgusting learned that The Last Exorcism‘s Daniel Stamm is reteaming with Lionsgate as he’s now listed as the director of The Devil’s Light, written by Robert Zappia (Halloween H20: 20 Years Later).
In The Devil’s Light…
“Sister Ann, who devoutly believes performing exorcisms is her calling, confronts a demonic force that infests her school and has mysterious ties to her past.”
Here’s a longer synopsis:
“With reports of demonic possessions reaching unprecedented numbers globally, the Vatican opens schools for exorcisms in six countries including the United States.
“The Devil’s Light tells the story of Sister Ann, a restless 25-year-old, who devoutly believes that performing exorcisms is her calling. But she is at odds with the institution’s traditions: sisters are not allowed to perform exorcisms, only priests. With the support of a mentor, a professor who senses her special gift, she is allowed to observe actual training sessions. Her desire to prove herself takes a personal turn when she meets one of the school’s most disturbed patients. During their harrowing encounters, Sister Ann comes face to face with a demonic force that infests the school and has mysterious ties to her own past. It is then that the power of evil and her own startling abilities are fully realized.”
The film was produced by Paul Brooks (Pitch Perfect franchise, The Haunting in Connecticut, White Noise), Jessica Malanaphy, Todd Jones and Earl Richey Jones. Executive Producers are Scott Niemeyer, David Brooks and Brad Kessell.
Production was said to begin this spring.
It’s been eight years since Ari Aster came onto the scene and helped usher in a new wave of horror with Hereditary, one of the rare horror movies from the past ten years that still seems to come up in conversation every single week. And it’s back in the conversation this week, with Ari Aster revealing at an event that he’s already written a prequel to Hereditary!
Ari Aster was on hand at the American Cinematheque for Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair last week, a Los Angeles festival that screened all of Aster’s movies to date. The website Gold Derby reports that Aster revealed the Hereditary prequel script during a Q&A at the event, and you can watch the full Q&A conversation below for confirmation on the website’s report.
“I wrote a prequel to this,” Aster told the crowd, referring to Hereditary. “It never feels like the right time to do it. It’s a prequel, not a sequel so I don’t know where this goes.”
Would a potential Hereditary prequel dig deeper into the mythology of demon king Paimon? Unfortunately, Aster provides no further details on his prequel approach at this time.
Aster said of Hereditary during the same Q&A, “I was just trying to make a really good horror movie.” I think most horror fans would agree that he more than accomplished that goal, and the past eight years have proven that Hereditary is an enduring classic of its generation.
We celebrated the fifth anniversary of Hereditary here on BD back in 2023.
Ron Breton wrote, “Hereditary offers a similar emotional resonance to this new generation of horror – my generation of horror– as movie-goers in the seventies when they first saw Exorcist. Much like Aster’s film, we see the incomprehensible evil wear the face of a young girl; the victim of a raw deal she had no say in, as it tears a family to its core. Sure, both films offer so many terrifying visuals that can make the hair stand up on anyone’s neck – but it also depicts intense relationships and emotions that are tangible. Real. Familiar.”
“In that familiarity lies the uncanny, ready to rear its ugly head and force us to confront thoughts and horrors laying dormant and clawing at our psyche,” Breton continued his 5th anniversary celebration of Hereditary. “And it doesn’t matter if it’s been five or fifty years. These horrors are always there, as we become pawns in its horrible, hopeless machine.”
Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Ann Dowd, and Milly Shapiro star in Hereditary. In the film, “A grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences.”
That’s putting it mildly, eh?!
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