Demon Seed (1977)

☆ ☆ ½

Demon Seed (1977) – D. Cammell

Weird – but not weird enough.  Donald Cammell (fabled director of Performance with Nic Roeg) finds himself trapped in a locked house (courtesy of Dean Koontz) with an artificially intelligent supercomputer and Julie Christie.  There are therefore constraints on what he can do. The plot, with shades of Rosemary’s Baby, involves the computer (Proteus) seeking to impregnate Christie – against her will.  So, that’s gross.  But this is a horror film after all – women in peril etc etc.etc.  Nevertheless, you do catch glimpses of Cammell’s psychedelic yearning in the ‘70s era computer animation on display (by Jordan Belson) and in some of the odd pseudo-futuristic creations littering the set. Why does the wheelchair robot have only one arm anyway? The moral of the story is again that computers will menace us if they become smart enough to be jealous of our real existence.  But don’t be tempted if this theme is appealing to you – this is grueling fare.