Film Review: Demonic (2021)

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SYNOPSIS:

From the director of DISTRICT 9 and ELYSIUM, a young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades old rift between mother and daughter are revealed. 

REVIEW:

Directed and written by Neill Blomkamp (Elysium. Chappie), Demonic

The film opens with Carly Pope playing Carly. Carly is having one hell of a nightmare. Carly’s alarm wakes her up. If you ever had a horrible dream and your loud nuclear alarm sound wakes you. That is a feeling of relief.

Demon/possession films can be difficult for some people to watch. I’ve had a lot of conversations with different people about films that involve the devil, demons, possessions, exorcisms. It’s a topic that people don’t always like to engage in. They can also be leery and even superstitious.

This isn’t one of those movies however. Demonic adds in technology, family trauma, pain, and more. Carly Pope is always great in films.

Carly meets with her friend Martin (Chris William Martin) for drinks. He tells her about a company that contacted him. The company has Carly’s mom, Angela played by the incredible Nathalie Boltt. Martin tells Carly about the focus group that they wanted him to join and that Angela is already part of.

Angela is a patient in medical research but she’s also a felon. It’s crazy what can be done, and what happens in life and in movies.

Carly goes in to meet with the nice medical facilitators. Carly is at Therapol, that’s the name of the company. She meets with Michael (Michael J. Rogers) and Daniel (Terry Chen). Michael’s a physician and he’s studying “locked in syndrome.”

Terry Chen does a great job with showing empathy to Carly. Angela is hooked up to a contraption that looks like when I got a sleep test years ago. Carly is photographed for a simulation and she’s going to check on her mother via her mind.

This is a trippy movie. It’s creepy what can be done. Carly goes into this and sees her mother. She’s about to work out childhood trauma in a simulation. Angela is in this simulation and Carly finds her. They pull Carly out of the simulation and of course they want to chat right away. How was Angela? What was she like? This film is beautifully shot. It takes us on a journey.

Neill Blomkamp delivers a solid creepy film. The science-fiction aspects and scary trippy moments. Carly has to go in again and do another simulation. She is taken to another memory, another place in her childhood. Carly is angry, hurt and there is some mind play in the movie.

Carly gets to talk with Angela in a different memory and Angela is glitching in her memory. This is bizarro. Human beings are scary when you think about it. Carly’s trauma is attacking her, she’s seeing these vicious horrific monsters, and she’s attacked in the simulation.

They should have pulled her out sooner but they didn’t. Carly is interviewed again by Michael and Daniel. Daniel has empathy. Carly starts to tell the story and why her mom is in jail. It happened in 1998. Nathalie Boltt is intense in Demonic.

Carly sees something horrible in the simulation. She’s freaking out because it has to do with her friend Sam. I Googled locked-in syndrome and it’s scary.

Martin has a theory; he thinks it’s demonic possession. Carly has that, oh, is he a conspiracy theorist who is crazy? Did he hit his head? Demonic makes you think because there is so much horrible stuff happening. There are incredible people out there in the world also.

Carly doesn’t give Martin much of a chance. Sam shows up at Carly’s house, she let herself in and Carly is freaked out. You can tell when a person has had enough of bullshit and horrific tactics that people like to pull. Carly checks everything before going to bed.

It gets weird really quick. WHAT! Okay, it gets weirder. What in the creepy doctor priest are these guys doing? Neill Blomkamp added some significant fascination with adding on technology for the priests/doctors. Carly goes to check on Sam (Kandyse McClure) this time since she sort of had a premonition-like experience in the simulation.

It gets weird and wild. The demon needs a new host. The effects and the movements of the demon are insane in Demonic.

I would say check out Demonic.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0088955/

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