How does one go about making movie during pandemic? Assemble a cast of about 11 actors and actresses, 3 of whom you have already worked with before, and then team up with your brother to finance the whole thing. Next, shoot in British Colombia for a couple of months. And that’s it, done; people of the world get Demonic – a low budget horror flick.

So, what have we got here? Before answering this question, let’s recall what’s the usual in films dealing with possession. The usual would be the following and in approximately that order: poltergeist, demon, exorcists, holy water, acrobatic exercises, foul language, more exorcism, harassing the characters with dark and/or embarrassing secrets, more exorcism, levitation, more exorcism, and then demon goes back to hell. Are Blomkamp brothers really going to try and go with those old cliches thus announcing creative bankruptcy?

Fortunately, Demonic, while not disregarding some of the above mentioned, isn’t the usual. It features themes of both, paranormal and sci-fi in equal measure. Other than that it would even seem like a film done “for the lulz” if not for a mother-daughter relationship being central to the plot; disregard that part and you get a film that’s basically a top-notch dope: virtual reality, a demon which looks rather like some pagan god with the head of a bird, armed exorcists looking nothing like priests plus some first person psychedelic POV (you’ll see what I mean if you’re going to watch it). This flick could have been a lot more fun if done with a bigger budget and a slightly different premise. The seriousness of what has happened between the lead character and her mother really weighs it all down though. While watching it the first time I was thinking if it’s intended, first and foremost, for people who know what it means to live with a close relative who’s got severe mental health condition. It could have indeed made a terrific dedication to people who have seen, and have been dealing with situations like that in real life, up close and personal. Alas, in my humble opinion, there is an acute lack of depth to that aspect of the plot for it to be capable to resonate properly with someone who knows what it’s like to be in Carly’s shoes. For one, not talking to your mom after she’s done something which you know she’d normally never be capable of doing is a very unlikely reaction. I don’t think one even has to necessarily experience being a child to someone with mental health condition to know that the last thing you’d do is not talking to your parents. I think, a detail like that in a film can really make it or break it when it comes to retaining the viewer’s attention. I think, Bill and Ted with VR headsets summoning a demon for the lulz while being under influence would have made the part of plot needing to introduce film’s antagonist more fitting and relatable.

Looking at some other aspects of Demonic, first I have to say that I think it would be rather unfair to try and see how it measures up to bigger budget feature films that have been made by its director and script writer. Instead it would perhaps be more adequate to look at how it’s doing amongst the great number of indie and non-indie flicks of the past decade that deal with possession. Would I really be out of line saying that one thing so many of these films share is the attempt to outdo others while employing the same trope and same pattern? That it’s a competition in a closed up environment? And when it’s not a competition, it’s an attempt to at least do everything by rules, playing it safe and thus ending up with something generic? If I’m not out of line here, and if that is many times all quite true then it seems that Demonic deserves a praise as something rather original with its use of volumetric capture (ambitions for making cinema history right here!) and hints of fun of lucid dreaming, even if it reminds a bit of Tomb Raider game some twenty years ago.

Of course, Neill Blomkamp is a seasoned chap, and to compare his work nowadays to directional and other debuts can’t be fair either, but Demonic did provide me with fair excuse to say something that had to be said about possession films these days. Could it be that commentary is the very reason why Demonic is the way it is? Is Neill Blomkamp a seasoned troll as well? I’m looking at that demon there with certain amount of suspicion.

Peer Ynt

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