Demonic

Neill Blomkamp s’efforce de présenter le motif maintes fois visité de la possession démoniaque sous un jour relativement nouveau, mais, malgré quelques idées sympas, il ne va pas jusqu’au bout des choses. Tout ce qui est purement horrifique et intéressant se déroule soit hors cadre, soit dans un style que Blomkamp lui-même doit avoir du mal à apprécier en tant que fan du genre (alors que l’idée sur le commando d’exorcistes militants pourrait faire l’objet d’un film à part, ici, elle se voit écartée au bout de quelques secondes). Tout ce qui reste, en fin de compte, c’est le travail avec les personnages, à commencer par l’héroïne centrale qui ne disparaît pratiquement jamais de l’écran. Mais même sa relation avec sa mère et, par extension, avec ses amis semble simpliste, voire carrément artificielle, et ne peut pas du tout fonctionner aux yeux du public. Compte tenu du budget et de la difficulté de tourner en période de pandémie, ça mérite quand même un minimum de respect, mais sinon, le film se retrouve disloqué à mi-chemin dans toutes les directions et je ne vois pas comment quelqu’un pourrait être enthousiasmé. (17/09/2021)

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)