Demonic

If one omits the director’s name, Demonic remains a solid low-budget horror movie with several fine ideas and a well-escalated atmosphere of unsettling dread. But few people are willing to reconcile their expectations for the new feature film from the director of the superb District 9 with the fact that they will see not his next sci-fi spectacle, but rather a DIY project that Blomkamp paid for out of his own pocket and tacked together with a few close collaborators during the shutdown caused by the pandemic. Furthermore, the film has an element of technological gadgeteering and the ambition to mess around a bit with different modes of visuality within the narrative project. It is in these aspects that Blomkamp makes his biggest mark on the film, but at the same time, it is apparent that he did not pay nearly as much attention to the screenplay as he did to fucking around with volumetric capture technology and applying it for the needs of the film. As he paradoxically said himself, the film should be able to work as it is without knowing the context of its creation. Though that is very true, it is also just wishful thinking. (28.09.2021)

When Neill Blomkamp announced that he had secretly made a horror film during Coronavirus, we were all excited, but to no avail. This looks like he filmed 10 years ago, discovered the lost key to the vault during Coronavirus, and sent the film out into the world with an excuse. Demonic really looks and feels like it was made by a first-time filmmaker, for little money, who has a pretty interesting concept in the demonic possession genre, but chose the least appealing theme there is in horror. If that's what his Alien was supposed to look like, then God bless. It's unnecessarily long, talky, low on action (hardly any gore or scares), and the simulation feels more like a background version of “The Sims”, which was a very bad joke. I'd better not write anything else about the villain, otherwise I'd get angry. This really isn't Neill. Demonic borefest. Story 2/5, Action 2/5, Humour 0/5, Violence 1/5, Fun 2/5 Music 2/5, Visuals 2/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 1/5, Emotion 1/5. 4/10. (20.08.2021)

A proper f**k-you to everyone who expected a good movie. Blomkamp is the example of a one-hit-wonder, and probably it’s no longer worth looking forward to his future works. Demonic starts off solidly enough and piques curiosity, but after about half an hour, despite the "original sci-fi concept" and "unique filming method" of the VR sequences, it's clear where we are, and that we're not going to get any further. From then on, it's just alternately boring, awkward or ridiculous until the end. What’s especially disappointing is that Neill didn't even try to scare more. It's so lethally unexciting. (04.09.2021)

Neill Blomkamp attempts to present the oft-repeated subject matter of demonic possession from a fairly original perspective and comes up with some interesting ideas in the process. However, there is not much consistency, and he does not follow through on those ideas. All the real horror and other interesting stuff either takes place off-screen, or it is done in a style where perhaps even Blomkamp himself, as a fanboy, could not possibly be satisfied with the result (the idea of a squad of militant exorcists is treated as a throwaway thing done within a matter of seconds in Demonic, whereas perhaps it deserves its own movie). So, all that is left to talk about are the characters - especially with the main female protagonist, from whom the camera practically did not leave for the entire movie, however even the relationship she has with her mother, and by extension, her friends, feels like they are even cut short, stilted and artificial, and I do not feel the audience would practically find it at all convincing. Considering the budget and that the shooting was carried out during a pandemic, some respect is in order, even though otherwise it feels half-hearted, and I simply cannot imagine anyone getting excited about it. (17.09.2021)