Supernatural detective Nick Moon has shown that it takes more than a few demons to keep him down. Now we know that he’s more than a match for a failed Kickstarter drive, too.

Long story short: “Demon Squad,” a low-budget horror-noir flick made in Mobile, got a surprise round of publicity when it was featured by “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ in 2022. The exposure fueled hopes that fans would pony up $125,000 for a bigger, better sequel. The ambitious drive drew only about $37,000 in pledges – but that’s nothing to sneeze at, and it showed the folks at Fighting Owl Films where to set the bar. They launched a second drive a few days ago, and already have rocketed past its more modest goal of $20,000. And there are still 26 days to go for more contributors to weigh in.

“WE’RE FUNDED!” the filmmakers proclaimed on social media late Sunday. “WE’RE MAKING DEMON SQUAD 2!!!”

Thomas Smith and Erin Lilley Smith of Fighting Owl Films have said the effort funded by the second drive will feature a new story idea and a new script – meaning it won’t simply be a cheaper version of the film they’d envisioned making had the first fund drive succeeded.

“The goal for this campaign is to fund the project so that we have a much more fully realized film,” said Lilley Smith. “Better locations, costuming, props, makeup, sound, everything. As much fun as we had with ‘MST3K,’ it isn’t our goal with ‘Demon Squad 2′ to double down on the cheesiness or B movie aspects. We want to make this movie earnestly and properly.”

“With this project, we’ll be starting from scratch,” said Smith. “So you’ll be witnessing its creation from the ground up, script to screen.”

The ongoing drive can be found at www.kickstarter.com. For updates from Fighting Owl, visit www.facebook.com/fightingowlfilms.