UK Release: June 7 2013
Running Time: 88 mins / Cert: TBC

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FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT EXORCISM

 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."

Compiled by Dr. Ysamur M. Flores-Peña
Associate Professor
Liberal Arts and Sciences Department
Otis College of Art and Design
Los Angeles, CA.

Continuing where the first film left off, THE LAST EXORCISM PART II begins as Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell) is recovering after having survived a terrifying exorcism. Completely traumatized, Nell can't remember entire portions of the previous months, only that she is the last surviving member of her family.

Although she is trying to start a new life, she cannot ignore her powerful nightmares or deny that she hears voices and sees and feels things that nobody else does. She knows something