This Supernatural Thriller Is Getting a Sequel
By Movieguide® Contributor
After the commercial success of supernatural thriller NEFARIOUS, creator Steve Deace is back with a sequel that further explores the real life battle between good and evil.
The first movie, based on Deace’s book A Nefarious Plot, follows psychiatrist Dr. James Martin as he interrogates a serial killer to determine if he is sane enough to be executed. When Dr. Martin confronts the killer, however, he says that he is a demon named Nefarious. Dr. Martin asks him to prove it, and gets more than he bargained for and opens himself up to demonic forces that are only overcome through the power of God. A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads:
NEFARIOUS is an intense, spooky thriller with a few good twists, dramatic dialogue, excellent performances, and riveting direction. It has a strong Christian worldview that dramatically depicts the battle between God and Satan’s world of demonic evil. God is clearly more powerful, however. For example, in one scene a character appeals to God and God performs a miracle. However, NEFARIOUS has a very strong execution scene that warrants extreme caution. The movie also has three relatively light obscenities and some scary conversations with a man who claims to be a demon. Eventually, the demon’s plans in NEFARIOUS are thwarted, but in an unexpected way that involves an Act of God.
The movie found extreme success, connecting with both Christian and secular audiences, helping many rebuild bridges that had been broken in the past. Deace is now back with a sequel which explores Dr. Martin’s life after the encounter.
“[Dr. Martin] thinks he can walk away from this, but he’s going to learn that neutrality is not an option,” Deace told Christian Post. “Nefarious has unfinished business with him. There’s only two sides to the war, and Nefarious is not happy that James rejected him. He put this plan in motion for several years, manipulating certain events and [Dr. Martin]’s own life to get him to the point of becoming his Padawan, and Nefarious is going to go Empire Strikes Back on [Dr. Martin].”
“[Dr. Martin] has newfound celebrity; he’s a spokesperson for the paranormal and the supernatural. He’s making bank off of Nefarious, and Nefarious is not happy with that,” Deace continued. “Some very harsh lessons will have to be taught to [Dr. Martin]. We are going to get way more into the spiritual warfare aspect of what was only hinted at in the movie.”
Deace hopes that by exposing audiences to even more good and evil, it will help them reconsider how they are approaching their lives, and realize that there is no good in this world without God.
“We live in an era where people think they’re basically good, and if God is good, then they don’t need saving,” he explained. “But what if that’s all wrong? What if the world is actually fallen? What if people need to see real evil again to be driven back to the light?”
The original movie outperformed inital expectations.
“We shocked Hollywood by still finishing in the top 10 despite numerous holdover blockbusters and a glut of five other new films debuting the same weekend. It was The Lord of the Flies to even get screens. Now the battle is on to keep our screens. We need strong word of mouth. Now that believers have seen the film and know what it’s truly about, we are hoping the Church embraces it and allows it to grow viral. We’ve done all we can do. Now we need ambassadors,” Deace said when the movie premiered.
Despite the spiritual warfare that occurred when making the first movie, Deace decided to push through. Given that spiritual warfare is a defining element of NEFARIOUS, Deace knew that this was his opportunity to make Christ’s name known.
Related: Directors of NEFARIOUS Call Christians to Stand for Truth
“We often discuss spiritual warfare strictly from the perspective of what the darkness is doing to us, but throughout this process we saw God glorify Himself. Open doors we couldn’t ourselves, introduce us to talented people we didn’t even know, find us resources we needed and couldn’t find. I think, frankly, that’s one of the reasons I got hit with this MRSA infection leading up to release. The Enemy couldn’t overcome God’s favor/anointing upon this movie, so he took a pound of flesh (literally) out of me instead. It sucked, it hurt beyond belief at times. But in the end, we count it all joy to suffer for the Name,” Deace said.
The first movie was directed by UNPLANNED duo Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman. They said they also initially faced pushback because of the horror content in the movie.
“The fruit of our tree should let everyone know that we would not betray them,” Solomon said. “We didn’t abandon our beliefs,” Konzelman added. “Ironically, we made the movie that Christians have been asking us for for the last 10 years. “Especially from younger believers, they’re like, please make the movie that I can take my friends to, where they’ll go to the movie, it doesn’t look like or sound like they’re being preached to, but after we watch the movie together, we can start a conversation.”
They told Movieguide®: “The film [has no] demonics, no satanic, we don’t go there. We wouldn’t betray you. Look at the fruit of our tree. What we tell [audiences] is, this is CS Lewis’s Screwtape Letters meets SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. We’re not going to betray the audience. We’re not gonna betray the faithful believer.
“People are seeing worse on Disney cartoons, And we got an R rating because everybody freaks out in the Christian market,” they added. “That R rating was political… They [Hollywood] know Christians, unfortunately, will not go to R movies. So they gave us that R because they don’t want Christians to see it. That’s exactly what the devil has done. We’ve been in a battle with the devil the whole way.”
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