Demonic, the long-awaited new film from director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) is a well-made but ultimately unsatisfying sci-fi/horror hybrid feature. Despite an intriguing premise, solid performances, and some unsettling imagry, Demonic is too inconsistent to make a lasting impact on viewers.
Demonic’s story centers around Carly (Carly Pope) and her estranged mother, Angela (Nathalie Boltt). When Carly was a teenager, Angela inexplicably committed terrible acts of violence which landed her in prison. As a result of the tragedy, Carly severed all ties with her mother. Unfortunately the fallout also resulted in Carly losing touch with her childhood best friends: Martin (Chris William Martin) and Sam (Kandyse McClure). One day Carly receives an urgent message from Martin out of the blue. He explains he was contacted by a medical research facility called Therapol, who just happen to be conducting experimental research on Angela. Angela has fallen into a coma, but her mind remains active.
Shortly thereafter, Carly is called into Therapol to assist physicians Michael (Michael Rogers) and Daniel (Terry Chen) with their work regarding Angela. They have developed highly sophisticated technology that allows for Carly to enter a simulation of Angela’s mind and converse with her. Think of a hybrid between the superior 2000 film The Cell and video game The Sims. While Michael and Daniel claim to want to communicate with Angela to help her with any pain or discomfort she may be experiencing, it is immediately very clear they have (dum dum duuuummm) ulterior motives.
The scenes inside Angela’s increasingly disturbed mind were the strongest in the Demonic for me. Carly’s realistic yet simultaneously glitchy avatar was very well done, as were the landscapes, which were recognizable, but just askew and morphing enough to be effectively unsettling. Unfortunately, the scenes in between the simulations were not nearly as strong. The actors all turn in good performances, particularly Carly Pope, but are just not given a lot to work with. They are thinly drawn, which results in the audience not really caring about what happens to them. Also, the dialogue was generally clunky and unrealistic, which really took me out of the film.
Demonic uses a lot of horror movie tropes to set the tone of of the film. There is a lot of running through dark places with just a flashlight, dreams within dreams, walls covered with spooky sketches and newspaper clippings, unhelpful law enforcement, etc. All of these tropes can be very effective if done well. And while most of them do in Demonic, the ominous tension that the film achieves falls flat in the end because the movie simply is not very scary, despite Blomkamp’s best attempts.
Demonic‘s opening scene is strong, but followed by a lot of exposition dumping and awkward dialogue. It shows great promise towards the middle once the simulations begin, but loses it once more as the film concludes. I could not help but laugh when the true nature behind the Doctors at Therapol was revealed.
I really wanted to like Demonic a lot more than I did. The trailer was intriguing, the horror/sci-fi set up had a lot of potential, and I was rooting for Blomkamp to make another great film after his disappointing efforts post- District 9. But despite decent performances, the strong simulation scenes, and solid score and cinematography; the weak dialogue and lack of any true scares left me disappointed.
Score
I really wanted to like Demonic a lot more than I did. The trailer was intriguing, the horror/sci-fi set up had a lot of potential, and I was rooting for Blomkamp to make another great film after his disappointing efforts post- District 9. But despite decent performances, the strong simulation scenes, and solid score and cinematography; the weak dialogue and lack of any true scares left me disappointed.