Demonic (I) (2021) User Reviews

Well...he tried.

[benjaminskylerhill · 5/10 · 25 August 2021]

Beneath the glossy surface of unique visual ambition and a slew of intriguing, potential-filled ideas and concepts, this is unfortunately just 100 minutes of more of the same nonsensical writing, weak characters, and unbearably stupid dialogue and clichés that have plagued the horror genre for decades.

How is this the same filmmaker behind District 9?

Blomkamp's latest

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 25 August 2021]

Carly (Carly Pope) is estranged from her mother Angela who was convicted of burning down her care home workplace and killing some 21 people some twenty years ago. She further poisoned another five. Carly is haunted by nightmares of Angela. She has also been estranged from longtime friend Martin after those events and then he contacts her with news about her mother.

When this popped up, I didn't realize that it's a new Neill Blomkamp film. I figured it to be another low budget inconsequential B-horror movie. The initial assumption is not far from the reality. The premise is similar to Jennifer Lopez in The Cell except its visuals are nowhere near as imaginative nor compelling. This story needs something much more basic than that. It needs a ticking clock and stakes and motivation for Carly. If an evil corporation is going to all that trouble, it should do something much more coercive to bring her into the experiment. It has non of that. She just agrees to join this weird experience for no apparent reason. At least give her a beat and a nightmare in between the asking and the doing. She could do the procedure to confront her nightmarish visions and her mother. There is a clear deterioration in Blomkamp's writing and his visual style has stalled at best. There are basic concepts of motivation and characterization that are missing.

Re-Watch District 9...

[bear_adam · 4/10 · 22 August 2021]

I'll make this short. Horror is my life; whether it's movies, shows, games or books. Horror is my niche. A 4 is generous which sucks Bc I loved District 9, Elysium and Chappie. Where to start. The main protagonist was utterly trash and annoying. The cinematography was actually cool with the whole VR portrayal. The action was limited. One minor scare. The biggest thing which could have brought it to a 7 for me was the fact that he didn't include what could have constituted a wicked action scene with a Vatican Spec Op Unit; either a lack of budget or time, but regardless it will hurt reviews given time. A Redbox rental at best.

Wasted potential.

[waynedover1980 · 4/10 · 23 August 2021]

Oh dear me , was interested in this film because I'm a big fan of blomkamps other work but this is so dull and boring , the effects are pretty poor as well , ok gutted someone who brought us district 9 and elisium has fallen so far from grace , his oats studio work was better than this , a film from the short rakka could of been great , this film is not scary nor sci fi it's just stupid and boring .

A misfire

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 20 January 2022]

A decade ago I loved South African director Neill Blomkamp for his wonderful sci-fi movie DISTRICT 9, and I thought ELYSIUM was pretty good too (although CHAPPIE not so much). The last I heard of him was of his thwarted idea for an ALIENS sequel with not only Ripley but Hicks and Newt returning alive and well too; I thought that sounded like a great idea, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. So out of nowhere comes DEMONIC (2021), Blomkamp's newest movie as director, but watching this very ordinary possession movie you wouldn't notice his presence.

The first thing apparent is that this was shot on a very low budget during the pandemic, so expect closed sets and a small cast. The second thing is that it simply isn't very good. Possession flicks are ten-a-penny these days and all kind of roll into one, and this one goes through the same motions with contorting bodies and histrionics. I found it very tiresome, and to try to make it different they add in a load of CGI effect "dreamscape" stuff, but that bored me too. Let's hope Blomkamp bounces back from this misfire and gets some of the old magic back.

Painfully bad...

[paul_haakonsen · 2/10 · 30 September 2021]

When I sat down to watch this 2021 horror movie from writer and director Neill Blomkamp, I must admit that I was expecting, uhm well, something more, you know, demonic!

Instead I was treated to 1 hour and 44 minutes of pure rubbish. And what was supposed to be demonic was just laughable. Take heed, horror fans, and don't waste your time, money or effort on "Demonic".

The storyline told in "Demonic" was pointless to the core. This was a movie about a daughters estranged relationship with her mom, that they get to attempt to patch up by means of ludicrous simulated interactive interaction.

And as for this being a horror movie. Nope. Don't even bet on it, this was boring and uneventful.

The acting in the movie was adequate, but the actresses and actors were severely hindered in putting on memorable performances given the fact that they virtually had nothing to work with in terms of an interesting storyline, a proper script, memorable characters or compelling dialogue. No, this was hands down a massive swing and a miss from writer and director Neill Blomkamp.

This is definitely not a movie that I would recommend you bother sitting down to watch. Nor is it a movie that I will ever sit down to waste time upon again.

My rating of "Demonic" lands on a generous two out of ten stars.

Messy Plot

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 13 May 2022]

Carly (Carly Pope) learns from her former childhood friend Martin (Chris William Martin) that her estranged mother Angela (Nathalie Boltt) is in coma in a state-of-art clinic and the doctors responsible for her treatment want to talk to her. Dr. Michael (Michael J Rogers) calls her and schedules a meeting with Carly on the next morning. She meets Dr. Michael and his colleague, Dr. Daniel (Terry Chen), and they explain that they need her in an advanced treatment using an avatar to enter into Angela's mind and learn how she is responding the treatment. Carly accepts to participate in the experiment, but she feels affected by Angela's mind and the doctors interrupt her journey. Affected by the experiment, Carly tells her best friend Sam (Kandyse McClure) how he was her journey. But the doctors summon her again on the next day and Carly learns why her mother became a killer on spree years ago. Now she wants to help Angela, but Carly is deeply affected by a demon and Martin tries to help her.

"Demonic" is a disappointing film by the cult Neill Blomkamp with a promising storyline and a messy screenplay. The plot is confused and never works, with poor development of characters. The viewer never knows where the plot takes place (Canada, South Africa?); what Carly does for living (does she work or study?); why the doctors / priests need Carly to enter in her mother's mind if they know how dangerous it would be. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Na Mente do Demônio" ("In the Mind of the Devil")

This was a Neil Blomkamp movie?

[drivedetailing · 4/10 · 22 August 2021]

Nah...couldn't have been...this was low budge messiness...rushed ideas, no vision and some silly dialogue....or better yet what I like to call "nothing talk"...it's almost as if he was contracted to make a movie to pay back the studio ??

A swing and a miss....

[drtrance2003 · 6/10 · 21 August 2021]

I like Neil's films and unique takes on existing genres. However this movie was much more bland then the trailers make you believe. Literally every cool idea and scene was shown in the trailer. Wanna see how black-op military priests sent by the vatican combat demons...... yeah that never happens. Could have been cool, but nah, no budget for that! Of the 3 V. R. scenes there was only one interesting moment when they kinda reveal the demon. This movie had lots of promise but went nowhere with it, was not scary enough to be called horror, and inspite of its one or two unique ideas, it did not push them far enough.

Neils back with disappointment

[edgarkaz · 4/10 · 21 August 2021]

WTF did I just watch? This isnt the Neil I remember. It felt like watching a low quality horror sci fi flick. Every Neil short movie and movie shows all the violence and chaos but this just skips over everything. The acting was good but this just isnt it. Very disappointing.

Blomkamp deserves more credit

[michaellorusso · 10/10 · 20 August 2021]

Blomkamp managed to make a unique, fun little horror flick with - a tiny cast and a small budget - during the heart of the pandemic by utilizing new(ish) technology, and a team of mavericks who work primarily on experimental short films. One thing Blomkamp never gets credit for is the sheer originality of his films, and his ability to innovate. This movie may not blow your mind, but I can't say I've ever seen anything like it.

The Sims 4: Demonic Home Decorator

[kuarinofu · 6/10 · 29 July 2021]

Please excuse my attempts at humor. It's a defensive reaction.

I really, really wanted to like this film. It has been on my watchlist for like 3 years, and I was constantly checking on it. I hoped for Wan as a director, but when I saw Blomkamp, I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't say I liked Elysium, but I think Neill is a talented director.

With that being said, I give this film a lot of credit and a 6/10. It had its moments, but the negatives overcame the positives. As more people will watch it, I think it will drop down to ~5.5 or less.

There were three major problems for me:

1) the dialogue was unbearable most of the time;

2) the amounts of exposition thrown in these were overwhelming. The story comes to a halt for 10-15 minutes, and then BOOM, you get bombarded with information the characters share (the things they already know btw). And it's not that confusing to provide this much flashback.

3) the whole technology/occult combination was fresh, but when they tell you the point of all that, it just becomes a laughable excuse and an insane over-complication of what could have been done.

Throw in some heavy continuity, and the majority of the viewers will probably dislike this. The ending clearly shows that at least 10-15 minutes of it was missing, the main lead teleports way too much, and some scenes end abruptly.

I want to mention some positives as well, the film did look good, and I enjoyed the ending night scenes. I constantly felt like I'm giving this film much more creditworthiness than it's worth, but I saw some potential in it.

And yeah, while interesting in their looks, the simulation scenes lacked creativity, and the entity of which we got no information looks like Radament from Diablo 2.

Overall, this is not a horror film. And as much as I appreciate the effort, I didn't like it as much as I wanted to.

I wanted this to be good but it wasn't

[jamesbulgin · 4/10 · 22 August 2021]

You'll know it's bad when they enter a VR world in someone's mind. Monster wasn't very scary. Poor Neil, guy needs a hit and this ain't it.

Give it a skip

[ivanisawesome · 2/10 · 21 August 2021]

Feels like a bad Black Mirror episode. I love Blomkamp's work but this was a misfire.

"i don't care"

[digdog-785-717538 · 4/10 · 5 September 2021]

One of the fundamental aspects of filmmaking is .. ermm, let me start again.

One of the things in filmmaking that literally everyone who is being given a camera and/or a budget should know, is a technique where the film tries to generate a connection between the audience and the protagonist. This is where the protagonist actually becomes the protagonist, not because of the hair, or the clothes, or the time on screen, of if he gets the girl, of if he is the one to stab that one last time the big angry dragon, but the protagonist is THAT ONE CHARACTER THAT THE AUDIENCE CONNECTS WITH.

Demonic is the story of a girl who i don't care about. She meets with a guy i don't care about and they discuss her mother whom, and this may shock you, i do not care about.

She goes to a hospital where two people i do not care about hook the daughter up to a big machine and SHAZAM, she is now in the mothers head, and simultaneously also in a bad recreation of the Nightmare On Elm Street plots, if you remove any semblance of charm and the charisma of Freddie Kreuger.

There's some fairly decent visual effects that remind me of the immensely superior A Skanner Darkly, when a guy in a rubber suit, filmed in B&W, with white noise and shakeycam, does some horror stuff that by this point we really do not care because there is no immersion, no suspension of disbelief, nil connection with the protagonist.

I think she stabs the monster later on and the film is over. Who cares.

Unwatchable

[arfdawg-1 · 1/10 · 1 September 2021]

What a bore.

This movie is quite simplu HORRIBLE.

Nothing to recommend. The acting is third rate. The story is a bore and the director does not kknow how to direct at all.

There is no tension, not drama. Just the dreggs.

Exorcistmare on Matrix Street

[Otkon · 4/10 · 29 August 2021]

Of course that sounds like a fairly amazing premise But sadly it never really finds its own path.

The cast is admirable for going all-in. And it has high production values. But in the end, it's a big so what.

I think Martin was my favorite.

Make Blomkamp great again

[PedroPires90 · 3/10 · 31 August 2021]

Some good ideas here, one interesting scene around the 58 minutes mark and...that's it. It doesn't work as an horror film, it doesn't work as a sci-fi film, it doesn't work as a drama.

Make Blomkamp great again.

An interesting and unique enough take on the demonic possession subgenre

[BusaLeLizweBo · 7/10 · 9 August 2021]

The main reason I was interested in this film was Neill Blomkamp, who is finally back to making feature films after a 6-years-long pause. After two forays into blockbuster territory, he's back with indie horror and I was very curious how he would approach the genre. The title is very generic and if it wasn't for Blomkamp, I probably would have skipped this one. Plus, it is hard to make a genuinely fresh and interesting horror movie today and Blomkamp almost succeeds, but not all the way through.

It starts out very interesting. The story is intriguing and good acting helped giving it the proper emotion. The simulation scenes are easily the best and most interesting parts of the film, but that aspect of the story is done by the midpoint and only comes back once more in the climax. This is largely why the latter half of the film was disappointing. Plus, something about the writing and sometimes even acting just wasn't on the same level anymore. If the plot was more focused on the initial concept and explored the simulation more, it would have made for a lot more interesting film. This way, we get one amazing scene in the climax and then the rest of it is drawn out and clichéd. However, the design of the demon was very good and there were several genuinely frightening scenes. What's even better is that the demon is obscured most of the time, which makes it all the more creepy. There are a few jumpscares, but Blomkamp doesn't rely on that to much. Instead, he relies on the power of disturbing imagery, which is worthy of respect when many other directors would go for a cheap and sudden booming sound.

All in all, the film could have been a lot better than it ended up being, but it is certainly not bad. With an interesting concept and character design, it is unique enough to stand out among the crowd of other demonic possession horror films. After this, I'm excited to see what Blomkamp does next.

Demon

[krazysoon · 10/10 · 21 August 2021]

I can't believe people are trashing this movie. It was great and unique in my opinion. The atmosphere and tension was thick. Sometimes you didn't know what was coming. A 4.4 is harsh and that may turn off a lot of people. However don't let the low user score dissuade you from watching it. You have to be the judge.

very good low budget horror flick

[leeanthonyw · 7/10 · 11 February 2022]

Ignore the negative reviews, this movie is a very intelligent unique film the idea of the virtual simulation is typical blomkamp. The Vatican black ops is a very clever twist.

I have watched 3 times now and I still enjoy it.

WHAT A WASTE!!!

[jordancornally-84720 · 4/10 · 20 August 2021]

I assumed people were just bashing this movie just because ya know. After watching it I am left frustrated and understand why people are left annoyed. Such a good idea for a movie with multiple good ideas in the movie. But when good ideas are left in the wrong hands this is the outcome. It would be a 5 out of 10 for me but because Neill Blomkamp ruined the Special ops unit idea I'm dropping it to a 4. Like why even introduce the exorcist unit if you aren't going to show them for most of it. What a waste of Ideas and movie.

Demon, Devil, Real

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 31 August 2021]

The title is a plot spoiler, so I will spoil a little more. Carly (Carly Pope) hates her crazy mother who is in prison and recently entered a coma. She is located at Therapol, a medical imagery company which we later find out is run by a group of heavily armed exorcists who work for the Catholic Church. Carly communicates with her mother at Therapol by having them both enter a CG world that looks like SIMS. Things go bad, i.e. The title enters the film.

This was a middle of the road demonic possession film. The actors didn't add any character to the film, keeping things rather bland.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

I didn't believe the negative reviews at first, but then...

[designercandlesu · 3/10 · 18 September 2021]

Being a big horror buff I am used to of movies being pretty good with low rating, but not this one. When it started I was fully into it, and really was like- I don't get the low rating, until the last half hour! I literally started to hate the main character towards the end. Ridiculous decisions and super annoying. If you hate movies where main character is annoying, you won't like this. She literally got her friends in danger for her own selfish reasons and she is absolutely irritating towards the end. Idiotic decisions one after another and the big exorcism army is pretty useless. Great simulation concept but wasted due to bad character arc. And cliche horror/thriller movie mistake.

Also, did anyone else find her similar looking to Prometheus lady?

Messy Mashup

[jeroduptown · 5/10 · 21 August 2021]

Demonic plays off a strained relationship between mother and daughter - but the means by which they're brought back together is flimsy when it needs to be solid to support the ending. It's a sci/fi and old world mash up of ideas that could work with a stronger plot.