Demonic (2021) Dir. Neill Blomkamp
Carly (Carly Pope) is estranged from her mother who burned down a care home in Neil Blomkamp’s new high-brow horror flick Demonic.
Carly and her friend Sam have also cut off their friend Martin who gets in touch one day to tell her about Therapol – a company involved in medical experiments. Carly is shocked to find her mother comatose and Therapol reveal they have a device so Carly can enter her mum’s mind via a virtual simulation. Carly agrees with some trepidation and enters the world – a gloriously rendered and somewhat pixelated virtual environment. Certainly an interesting idea, a film that mixes modern digital technology and spiritual horror would have to have a rock-solid script to balance the conflicting themes. Demonic is so far away from this it’s comically frustrating.
A series of sequences via this virtual doorway get duller each time she re-visits and a although a bird-like demon should be commended for not being a CGI creature, but frankly didn’t instil an ounce of horror for me. The plot spirals into a ridiculous yet dreary tale involving Vatican conspiracies, priests and black ops teams.
A few positives include a body-breaking sequence that sees Carly’s friend Sam being possessed by an entity in an orgy of cracking bones and twisted limbs, whilst the “graphics” for the cybernetic landscape of the mind-world are visually attention-grabbing. The isometric angles and glitchy images are particularly effective to capture the artificial environment by the filmmaker.
With a dash of The Cell (2000) which does a more interesting woman-enters-a-disturbed-comatose-patient-mind story, Demonic ultimately fails with a disappointing mix of dull drama, tedious plotting and a distinct lack of any scares. The real nightmare here though is the continued slide of Blomkamp from his Oscar-nominated first feature to this mostly awful foray into a synthesis that’s less bloodcurdling and more boredom causing. A simulation without any stimulation indeed.
★★
Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021) Dir. Taylor Sheridan
Angelina Jolie plays Hannah Farber - a smokejumper (wildland firefighter) posted in a lookout tower in Montana who stumbles across a young boy (Finn Little as Connor) who has found himself on the run in the woods from two hitmen.
They are hunting Connor as he holds sensitive evidence against a mob boss but to slow down the authorities hunting them, the two assassins start a forest fire. Whilst searching in the dense wooded areas, Connor does his best to hide and survive as the assassins track clues before finding themselves at the Deputy Sheriff’s home threatening his loved ones as flames encompass their surroundings.
Aidan Gillen as Jack and an against-type Nicholas Hoult as Patrick are suitably immoral dispatchers and the whole film has a certain 90s/00s vibe with its broad characters, flimsy plot and thin narrative. BUT I can’t say I didn’t enjoy some of its simple pleasures. The encroaching fire keeps the tension high, and there’s a surprising amount of violence, gunplay and taut chase sequences.
Probably helped by the director’s work on his scripts for Sicario and Hell or High Water (two fantastic films if you haven’t seen them), this movie is not to the level of those, but there is a fair amount of entertainment for what sounds on paper to be pure b-movie fare.
With enough thrills throughout, Those Who Wish Me Dead never surprises or strays from the standard genre thriller beats, but it does have enough enthusiasm and action pleasures to make it a more than entertaining distraction on a Friday night.
★★★½
Michael Sales
