Demons Have Possessed Mena Suvari, And Only Eli Roth Can Monetize Them

Illustration for article titled Demons Have Possessed Mena Suvari, And Only Eli Roth Can Monetize Them

Although his usual horror entertainment seems like it would be better suited to the WWE Network, Eli Roth will bring his talents instead to Women's Entertainment TV as producer and first episode director of the new supernatural exorcism series South of Hell, starring Mena Suvari.


The show is about an exorcist (Suvari, seen above during her stint on American Horror Story) who has her own personal demon... literally. She's named Abigail. Here are the details from the official press release:

Charleston, South Carolina is the most possessed city in the world. Evil thrives there. Something with which 30-year-old exorcist Maria Abascal is intimately acquainted. She wrestles demons for a living. Especially Abigail, the one that lives within her. The one who feeds on damned souls and who's violated the laws of hell to live on earth—and live on, inside Maria. Now, as they work as one, Maria will discover how personal her battle with evil has become and how far Abigail will go to protect them both. It's a journey where the unspeakable is just a heartbeat away.

Zachary Booth will play the character of David Abascal, Maria's brother and closest companion who has a few of his own real-world demons: an addiction to heroin and a lust for troublesome women. Bill Irwin joins the cast as Enos Abascal, Maria and David's once cunning and superbly manipulative father and the leader of a notorious devil worship cult known as the Order of Everlasting. Drew Moerlein plays Dusty, Maria's handsome, ex-military neighbor and the local handyman. Lamman Rucker stars as Reverend Elijah Bledsoe, a priest with a strong attraction to and interest in Maria, and father to Grace, played by Paulina Singer, his bi-racial daughter who has experienced extraordinary emotional trauma.

The series also stars Lydia Hearst as Charlotte Roberts, a southern belle oozing sex appeal, which she knows how to use; Slate Holmgren as Sweetmouth, a major drug dealer in the area; and Lauren Velez as Tetra, Maria and David's spiritual informant, often pointing them in the direction of the demonically possessed.

Sounds a bit like a basic cable-appropriate cross between Constantine, The Ghost Whisperer and True Blood, but with an extra helping of Satan. At the moment, the show has an 8-episode order and is due out next year. I have to admit, I stopped watching WE when they stopped airing late night Golden Girls reruns, but I am curious to see what an Eli Roth/WE TV show looks like.

No, not the WWE Network; Women's Entertainment Television


Ann Hiro

Wait... Women's Entertainment Television...

WET...?! Seriously?