dex14

GoldenJCJ

Blomkamp has a lot of making up to do before I run out to see this.

Yeah, Chappie was so bad, I’m holding a personal grudge against the guy.

E Unit

This doesn't look any better than Chappie. I'll still more than likely check it out, but I think Blomkamp's high has been over for a while.

Why So Blu?

Blomkamp hasn't made a good film since District 9.

At least he's crossing over into horror a bit.

devilshalo

He showed some promise with his short films from Oats Studios a few years ago which were in the horror/scifi genre. But I also feel he's one of those that is better off directing something someone else has written.

Dr. DVD

Looks generic as...hell

d2cheer

I am with you on that.

dex14

OldBoy

Do we know what streaming service this will be on in Aug?

OldBoy

Well, it looks like he had a horror itch to scratch. Looks ok, nothing super. I liked 2/3 of his latest, like most, so this could be good or it could be bad.

RichC2

It's VOD, so Amazon, Vudu and iTunes.

GoldenJCJ

That looks terrible. Like shitty early 90s cyber horror. I got Ghost in the Machine and Lawnmower Man vibes from that trailer. Only this doesn’t have an adorable Karen Allen or suave Pierce Brosnan to help it.

Hazel Motes

Neil Blomkamp is like a version of Richard Kelly that still gets work.

dex14

Out this week. So far reviews are terrible: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/demonic_2021

JayTL

That's a shame. I'll still check it out at some point (as long as the price is right). I'm a fan of his work, which seems to be the unpopular thing to say around these parts lol.

Let me clarify real quick too- I don't love his movies, but they all seem to come from good ideas. I like his vision...but don't love the movies that come from them.

L Everett Scott

This movie was available on Hoopla up here in my little corner of Canada so I thought I’d check it out.

Um…where to begin?

Firstly, I am a Blomkamp fan. I really liked District 9, thought Elysium was fine, and felt Chappie, well, had a few moments of note...primarily Jackman’s hairdo. I even liked the short films he made under the Oats Studio banner. They all have a certain vibe that is distinctly Blomkamp’s and a believability to the rendered objects and characters despite not having $300M budgets to play with. Even the Oats shorts were visually impressive without the benefit of feature film resources.

It's because Blomkamp has had this consistency that Demonic is mind-boggling. Without seeing the interviews he’s given and the behind-the-scenes clips, I’d swear that it was someone else who made this new movie. The gloss from his previous features is completely absent and replaced by the signs of an independent production such as repeatedly using locations and having a major battle take place off camera.

Perhaps I’m making Blomkamp sound more creative and resourceful than what he demonstrates in Demonic. He actually comes off as somebody trying to mash a couple of short films together to make a feature. The idea of using medical VR to determine whether or not someone is possessed has possibilities as does the notion of the Vatican sending squads of priests with military training to capture and destroy demons.

Blomkamp, though, makes a mess of things so the ideas don’t gel. The VR (which doesn’t look great) is used merely to get the protagonist in touch with her mother who’s in a coma and then plays no role in the narrative until the climax. Had Blomkamp taken out the VR from the film completely, you would essentially get the same story. It just seems that he fell into the same trap as other filmmakers playing with cutting edge technology (see the Linus Tech video below) and forcibly crammed it into his movie when it wasn’t needed.

Demonic unfortunately really suffers from its budget constraints. The demon is a physical suit with an animatronic head, but that’s exactly what it looks like in the film. I found it hard to suspend my disbelief so I never bought it as anything but someone cosplaying.

Given the limited funds available to him, Blomkamp resorts to rather amateurish storytelling. At one point, a dying character provides a chunk of exposition while pulling out of his pocket a super weapon that had never been hinted at earlier. My jaw must’ve hit the floor during that part because it felt like I was watching a film made by someone in grade school.

The film is full of ideas, some of them far too ambitious for a small budget to realize. What Blomkamp really needed to do was scale back the story and cut out parts that simply wouldn’t work without more time and money being available. He might be a seasoned filmmaker at this point, but Demonic clearly demonstrates that he needs to learn to work within his means and to not use the latest shiny toy just because it excites him.

For those who sat through Chappie, you can no longer claim to have seen the worst movie Blomkamp has made.

E Unit

Well, that sounds like I won’t be following Blomkamp any more. Too many other people and movies I’d rather take a risk on. This sounds beyond bad.

RichC2

I don't think we should judge these guys based on their lockdown films but yeaaaaah, he's been on a downturn for a while now.

Why So Blu?

He should have stuck it out with Peter Jackson a while longer. It's the only reason why District 9 was a smash hit. Jackson had a lot to do with the success of it. It's been downhill ever since.