‘Demonic’ Review: More of an Exercise Than An Exorcism
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Written by Neill Blomkamp
Starring Andrea Agur, Nathalie Boltt, Terry Chen, Chris William Martin
I know. The idea of the visionary director behind District 9, Elysium and Chappie (a dystopian Short Circuit starring Die Antwoord that I will always defend) making a horror movie? Sold. The problem is, this film would have never been made if it wasn’t for the pandemic. Demonic winds up being a perfect storm where Blomkamp’s DIY creative incubator, OATS Studios, created a space to use new technology to tell engaging stories without the big money of Hollywood.
Demonic doesn’t feel like a visionary horror film from someone who’s now considered a visionary filmmaker. But it shouldn’t have to feel like that. Even in the time of COVID, where filmmakers are just trying to get something made, we’ve put too much pressure on Blomkamp and his team. Yes, Demonic uses new technology to tell a story that adds to the growing number of depictions of mental health in the horror zeitgeist… but that didn’t start in the COVID era.
Also Read: Watch the Trailer for Demonic
The premise is perfect for a sci-fi horror story. Carly Pope plays a traumatized daughter asked to reunite with her murderous mother, Angela (Boltt), who now lies comatose in a government facility. The only way she can tell her mom to go to hell is through a cerebral headset connecting her to her mother’s dream state. What’s supposed to be a kind of catharsis leads to a frightening realization that a demon has been haunting Angela in her paralyzed stasis. And now, thanks to everyone tampering with things they know nothing about, the demon is free to terrorize us in the real world.
That set-up sounds compelling enough, but the therapy scenes, in which they both reunite inside of this controlled mind walk, use a visual effects technique that’s been around for years. Volumetric capture has been a big selling point for Demonic, but when the effect is incorporated, especially in the last act, it’s more disorienting than captivating.
The creature effects for the demon use a kind of new-school-meets-old-school approach. An example of being too caught up in the process and not the product, the practical costume design of a bird-like demon is processed and copied into this new tech and spit back out. With all of the work that was put in, the villain and main source of the horror in Demonic should have been a lot creepier.
With Demonic, Blomkamp seems to be trying to find out for himself whether he can make a horror movie. There are some big ideas, here, that could have been further fleshed out: Subplots involving spiritual warfare and some deep, ancient history are hinted at, but they register only as surface-level folklore. And ultimately, the problem is that Blomkamp doesn’t seem to care about scaring us.
Demonic is perhaps the best example yet of a project made during a global pandemic that is still ongoing at the time of its release. It’s impossible to review the film without acknowledging that. Would this have been “the next film from Neill Blomkamp” otherwise? Absolutely not.
The film should be looked at, then, in a different way. Demonic is an experiment in combining ideas, rather than a coherent story meant for mass consumption. And although that experiment may be inspired, ultimately, it’s a failed one.
Demonic opened in theaters August 20, 2021, courtesy of VVS Films.
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Demonic
Summary
Demonic is more of a half-baked experiment than an actual horror movie from a director who undoubtedly still has amazing work ahead of him.
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