Skip to main content

Demon Seed (1977)

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Demon Seed. Feature film. (1977, 94 mins) IMDB

...it might have worked in its day, but not today...

D

EMON SEED was such a great film I fell asleep watching it. Uh-huh. As I've said before I'm not a fan of horror films. For whatever reason, they just don't do anything for me. I can't get caught up in the story. As for science fiction. Well, it's about the same and any film or story that may be a sci-fi and I like it, is probably more likely to be classified in some other genre. STAR WARS, for example, isn't a sci-fi film, but there are elements of sci-fi in it.

But I guess I should say something about this film.

There's a tiny cast. Really just two characters: Susan and Alex Harris. A husband and wife who will separate because that's what the narrative requires in order for it to work.

They live in a large, ultra-modern home. In fact, you can't buy such a home because it doesn't exist. Imagine a large home with a computer out of Star Trek. That's there home. The computer is so capable it fixes meals, talks with you and well I'll get to that.

The husband is a scientist who builds these super computers. During the slow, boring first Act I, we see him putting the final touches on a new super computer, Proteus IV. It's a thinking computer. It sucks up facts and is a form of artificial intelligence. Such computers have been abused by story tellers many times, the question is what's different this time. Well here goes.

As Act I ends, our lovely Julie Christie is home alone. The servants have left. The husband has deserted her and the super computer moves in. It takes over the house. She's trapped. I didn't buy the trapped bit. Make it a submarine, space station, an underground mine and maybe, but that's what the film did.

She's trapped in this house with this sadistic, motivated and intelligent computer. Try as she may, she's a prisoner to it.

And here's the twist. The computer wants to impregnate her. Say what? The computer wants to reproduce and all that goes with it. Okay. The computer figures out how to make sperm and impregnates her. Instead of a nine month gestation period, it's 28 days and after the child is born, he (could have been a girl) grows even faster.

Then the movie ends.

Perhaps there's some deep philosophical questions about life and supernatural powers, maybe, but to get to those questions give us a story we can watch without being completely bored. I'd have more fun studying the grains on sandpaper.

Posted 2009/04/09 at 19h02ET in Movie Commentary.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Piece of the Action (1977)

Saturday, March 7, 2009 A Piece of the Action. Feature film. (1977, 135 mins) IMDB ... Who would you have over for dinner? Sidney Poitier or Bill Cosby. ... A PIECE OF THE ACTION is the third film starring Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. Poitier also directed the films. (And yes, I would be fascinating to have both them sitting around a table for dinner.) We're in Chicago and I love the setup for this film. It's clever, fun and interesting. It starts during the dark of night. Crosby is a cat burglar robbing a vault in a bank. He's by himself, all the tools he needs, and doesn't speak a word of dialogue for at least the first twenty minutes of the film. It must have been killing him. His robbery goes off successfully. (It includes a jump from a six or seven story window. There was a similar scene in their earlier films.) When the cops arrive during the daylight, they haven't a clue and we catch a glimpse of James Earl Jones as a detect...
Post a Comment
Read more

If Only We Could Agree

Monday, June 11, 2012 ... have you been accused of misspelling a word you know is correct ... S usanne O’Leary wrote an interesting article on her experience with the variations of the English language in different countries. You know the obvious ones like colour with or without a “u” but less obvious ones like travelled versus traveled. Growing up in Sweden she learnt English in school—the UK variation. In publishing her books, she read reviews where she was criticized for improper spelling. False accusations as it turns out. While I write tire and cozy, it’s not incorrect to write tyre or cosy. Same language. Both accepted. Just different. You can read her write-up here along with the numerous comments posted by readers. I found it interesting, but that’s me. As a Canadian I deal with this issue everyday. I feel her pain when she’s criticized for something based on ignorance. No fun. I was told by a boss that “data are” isn’t correct. It should be “data is.” Read...
2 comments
Read more

No Reservations (2007)

Saturday, May 2, 2009 No Reservations. Feature film. (2007, 104 mins) IMDB ... I so much wanted to like this film but couldn't ... T his film had two things I like a great deal: romance and cooking, but they didn't come together for me in this film. I think I know why. The female lead doesn't strike me as a romantic leading lady. That's just me. I also found the story line stale and uninteresting. Our hero lives in NYC working at a fine dining restaurant where she is the chef and dictator. Everything about her life is about cooking. Nothing else seems to matter. No children. No relationships. Then her life is kicked apart. Her sister and niece travel to visit her but before they arrive, there's an accident. The mother dies and little Zoe has to live with her aunt. Our hero struggles to include a new person into her life but what follows is so predictable as to be boring. To add even more complications to our hero's life, her sous...
Post a Comment
Read more