District 9 director Neill Blomkamp is releasing a new film titled Demonic. The South African director is known for making dystopian sci-fi/action movies with pointed social commentary. District 9 received both critical praise and popular success with a chilling, alternate reality story of alien contact that recalls South Africa's apartheid era.
Deadline reports that Blomkamp made Demonic during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the filmmaker's first foray into pure horror territory; while previous films have been deeply unsettling, Blomkamp has yet to veer into the supernatural until now. The movie has found a home at IFC Midnight, the independent film company's horror label. Demonic will premiere on August 20th and stars Carly Pope (Elysium), Chris William Martin, and Michael Rogers.
Independent horror has flourished in the past few years, with production companies like Blumhouse Studios and A24 nabbing deals with visionaries like Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) and Ari Aster (Midsommar, Hereditary). Both filmmakers have successfully incorporated social themes into mind-melding works and either mixed genres in Peele's case or rejected generic formula in Aster's. Blomkamp similarly prioritizes artistic vision over convention, which will hopefully result in a unique take on the genre.
The synopsis for Blomkamp's upcoming movie sounds positively terrifying:
In Demonic, a young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades-old rift between mother and daughter are ruthlessly revealed in this horror-thriller from director Neill Blomkamp.
Source: Deadline