By ERIC RED
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DEMON
SEED
(1977)
Director: Donald Cammell.
Writers: Robert Jaffe. Roger O.Hirson. Based on the novel by Dean R. Koontz.
Cast: Julie Christie, Fritz Weaver.
Had to
take a hiatus from the column in recent months while making my new film,
“100 FEET,” but I’m back. It’s fun talking about pictures that made an
impression on me and bringing attention to quality genre films perhaps some
people may not have seen.
The
object of my affections this month is “DEMON SEED,” a provocative 70’s cyber
sex science fiction thriller about a woman terrorized by a computer that
wants to have sex with her. The beautiful wife of a scientific researcher
is imprisoned in her own completely computerized home controlled by a
sinister artificial intelligence. The AI wants to go the next step in
evolution and procreate, and plans to mate with her.
A
woman who gets raped by a computer is a ballsy high concept for a sci fi
film. Even more so when she gets pregnant and doesn’t know what she is
going to give birth to. How does all this work? See the film and find out
what happens when HAL gets a hard on.
Think
“2001” meets “ROSEMARY’S BABY.” This is one trippy conceit, where a serious
and straightforward approach works effectively to suspend audience
disbelief. It’s not an exploitive or pornographic film and is slick and
tastefully handled throughout. The picture benefits from the convincing and
intelligent performance by the great English actress Julie Christie as the
damsel in distress.
The
story is set in a remote research facility in New Mexico where a brilliant
scientific researcher Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver) has created a powerful
artificial intelligence super computer called Proteus 4. His therapist wife
Susan (Julie Christie) lives with him in their nearby home where everything
is run electronically by the super computer. When Proteus 4 begins to
develop a mind of its own, it questions Alex and disobeys some of his
commands, so the researcher takes the computer offline.
But an
oversight leaves the artificial intelligence in control of his house and
alone with his wife. Soon, Proteus 4’s camera is checking out her ass while
she showers. The computer knows it’s in danger, wants to live, and what
better way than to procreate? Proteus 4 traps Susan inside her home and a
cat and mouse begins as the frightened but resourceful woman tries to
protect her virtue from virtual violation. Estranged from her husband
because of his emotional distance and her disapproval of the dehumanizing
effects of technology, Susan is about to get up close and personal with the
electronic age beyond her wildest nightmares.
I love
stories with just a few characters in contained settings in a mano a mano
confrontation. Done right, these kind of set ups focus your attention so
tension and audience involvement increase exponentially. The opening 10
minutes of ‘THE HITCHER” is two men in a car. In “100 FEET,” the whole film
is a woman trapped in a house with a ghost. The trick is coming up with
enough complications to keep it interesting. “DEMON SEED” impressed me then
and now with the mileage it gets out of the woman trapped in basically one
setting with the villainous computer.
“DEMON
SEED” has its problems. It’s slow to get going and the dated production
values of the era hinder the picture. The special effects are hit and miss
compared with the state of the art stuff these days. The artificial
intelligence materializing as a huge levitating spinning metal cube that
bursts through floors and opens to crush skulls is less than awe-inspiring.
Also, there are computer graphics that are cheesily psychedelic. But the
film has some nifty robotics, including a battle with a motorized wheelchair
outfitted with a mechanical arm and hand plus a lethal laser beam. The
technical limitations of “DEMON SEED”’ aside, I love the kinky and erotic
cyber sex elements of this film as flesh and machinery fuse. It’s some edgy
shit, certainly for a studio film.
“DEMON
SEED” is grounded by the strong performance of the classy Julie Christie in
the lead, proof of the importance of quality casting in a quality genre
film. Think of Mia Farrow in “ROSEMARY’S BABY,” Ellen Burstyn in “THE
EXORCIST,” Sissy Spacek in “CARRIE,” “Audrey Hepburn in “WAIT UNTIL DARK,”
Sigourney Weaver in “ALIEN.” Not to mention Julie Christie again in “DON’T
LOOK NOW,” one of the first films I reviewed on this site. These films
would have not been the same experience without performances of total
believability and emotional realism the audience could connect with.
I
believe casting is a big problem with many current genre pictures where they
cast generic and interchangeable kids from TV series with no depth or
personality as actors beyond pretty faces. Compare some of the teen-based
horror films of the last few years with “CARRIE” 30 years ago, which was a
high school film with a cast of young people. But each of those young
actors from Sissy Spacek to Nancy Allen to Amy Irving to John Travolta had
tremendous personality and differentiation as actors, creating
three-dimensional characters so unlike these cookie cutter 20 somethings you
often see in films lately. Movies, even horror movies, are about people.
I’ve
always been demanding in casting my films and directing “100 FEET” I was
very selective about whom we cast in the lead role, a woman under house
arrest haunted by the ghost of her dead husband. Because she is onscreen in
every scene and almost every shot, the actress had to have serious dramatic
range besides being hot. I chose Famke Janssen, a terrific actress, and we
worked very closely to create the character. Trust me, she delivers the
goods and you won’t be able to her eyes off her. Famke gives the
performance of her career in “100 FEET” and I can’t wait for audiences to
see it later this year.
“DEMON
SEED” was an MGM film and the technical credits display solid and polished
studio professionalism throughout. The director Donald Cammell is best known
for “PERFORMANCE” starring Mick Jagger, a hallucinatory and druggy London
gangster film exploring the nature of identity that used effective
experimental editing techniques. That influential film predates the
ultra-violent hard-edged British crime films like “SEXY BEAST” and “GANGSTER
NO. 1” by decades.
Ahead
of his time, Cammell did not make many films, and “DEMON SEED” was his last
notable one. Unfortunately Cammell committed suicide some years ago and sad
he didn’t make more films. The cinematographer is Bill Butler (“JAWS”) who
provides dynamic anamorphic widescreen images that keeps the science fiction
on sure visual footing. The fine musical score by Jerry Fielding (‘THE WILD
BUNCH”) is a sophisticated fusion of electronic and symphonic idiom that is
classical, complex and disturbing. And the tight script by Robert Jaffe and
Roger O.Hirson was based on a novel by Dean R. Koontz, one of the best
horror writers in the world.
The
70’s were an exceptional period for American studio science fiction films,
with an output that included “ROLLERBALL,” “LOGAN’S RUN” “SOYLENT GREEN,”
and “WESTWORLD.” “DEMON SEED” is the nasty crack ‘ho cousin of those.
Next
month…‘TWO-MINUTE WARNING,” a taut and startling film about a sniper in a
football stadium.
READ ALL OF ERIC RED’S REVIEWS
HERE
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