'Prey for the Devil' trailer finds a female exorcist battling demons and the patriarchy

Filmmaker Daniel Stamm (The Last Exorcism, Them) returns to the world of religious horror in the latest trailer for Lionsgate's Prey for the Devil. Arriving in theaters next month, the film stars Jacqueline Byers (Salvation) as Sister Ann, a nun looking to become a female exorcist. But who — or what — beckoned her to this particular line of work?

Despite the fact that women have not traditionally been recruited in the fight against evil, the Catholic Church has no choice but to accept our protagonist when demonic possessions begin to rise the world over. Sensing her innate talent for banishing wicked entities, an exorcism professor (Resident Evil's Colin Salmon) agrees to train her. Sister Ann ultimately hits the front lines with Father Dante (13 Reasons Why's Christian Navarro), hoping to rid a little girl a demon that tormented the nun's mother years before.

Lisa Palfrey (Sex Education), Nicholas Ralph (All Creatures Great and Small), Ben Cross (Pandora), and Virginia Madsen (Swamp Thing) round out the cast.

Watch the trailer below:

"What I’m always searching for first when reading a new script are the points of conflict the story is built on," Stamm explained to Bloody Disgusting back in July. "Conflict is the fuel of all drama, all suspense, all tension; to keep an audience’s interest over the length of a feature film, you need an incredible amount of fuel to burn. A story about a male exorcist has one point of conflict: church vs. demon. But a female exorcist needs to fight the demon and the church to whose doctrine she poses a much bigger threat than the devil himself does." 

He later continued: "In our story, Sister Ann is saying: 'You guys have made this all about yourself, enamored with the image of yourself bravely fighting demons. The devil is using your vanity to distract you — it’s time to focus on the victim, the possessed, the one you claim to be fighting for. You need to make them more than the battlefield you are stomping around in. Let’s stop screaming our bible verses and listen for a moment, instead.'"

Robert Zappia (Halloween H20) penned the screenplay, working off an idea conceived with Earl Richey Jones and Todd R. Jones (both of whom contributed to the screen story for Blue Sky's Rio). 

The film was produced by the Joneses, Paul Brooks (The Fourth Kind) and Jessica Malanaphy (Insidious: Chapter 2). David Brooks (The Boy Downstairs), Brad Kessell (I Still See You), Scott Niemeyer (Pitch Perfect), and Michael P. Flannigan (The Invitation) are executive producers.

Prey for the Devil arrives on the big screen Friday, Oct. 28.

Prey For The Devil Poster Photo: Lionsgate

Looking for more of Stamm's supernatural work? The Last Exorcism is now streaming on Peacock.