Demon Seed (1977)

When we realize today how the computers changed our life ,"demon seed" can easily be looked upon as a film ahead of its time.A bizarre cross between "Rosemary's Baby" and "2001"'s "Hal 9000" ,one feels ill-at-ease after the viewing .The screenplay may seem far-fetched but today it can become a transparent metaphor :we might be the computers' prisoners and it won't improve with time.The computer might know intimate details about us,he may "rape" us in a way.

But what remains impressive today is how the director and the script writers managed to sustain interest while using only one character most of the time.Most of the time,the audience is left alone with Julie Christie and the "monster" (there are snatches of "Frankenstein" too),and the viewers can easily identify with her character.

Fmovies: What a great movie! Let's see, what do we have here... First of all, great actors. Julie Christie is not only a real beauty to watch, her fantastic performance as the impulsive and emotional wife that is very wise in her way really rocks. Fritz Weaver is also perfect as the rather emotionaly cold scientist and the rest of the cast also performs very well in its rather small roles. Please take special note of the Asian actress (the linguist of the team), too bad she hasn't much scenes. The voice of Proteus (Who's that actor by the way? I've never heard of him.) is perfect in its calmness and menace. The script is a masterpiece - Proteus' and Christie's battle of wills and points of view is fantastic. Proteus as the non-emotional perfectly logical genius that realises that there must be more ("eternity does exist, but the price of admission, death, is too high for me to pay") and Christie as the emotional woman full of wits ("how do you want to understand humans when they can't even understand each other?" she asks Proteus). Proteus is not mean per se (for example he makes strong points for the saving of the enviroment when he refuses to do certain tasks), he is just purely logical at the beginning and tries to break out of his small nutshell, also because he is treated like a slave by the scientist that invented him - Proteus seems to have became capable of feelings. The directing is great, it's always a pleasure to watch the wonderful camera angles and editing of this movie. The computer animations may look dated now but that doesn't rob them of their timeless beauty. The electronic music is great and really enhances the experience of watching this movie. A soundtrack album has been recently released by FSM, go and get it! The ending is wonderfully creepy (Proteus made the child resemble the dead daughter!) but one really wonders what will happen. Because of the strong points Proteus made for saving the enviroment is doesn't seem to be altogether bad to have somebody like him as a human, but what else will he want to have - complete domination of the world? Wonderful food for thougths and since the whole movie isn't the usual easy understandable just-switch-your-brain-off-and-be-scared Hollywood crap it isn't surprising that some people find it to be extremely dumb - the movie just throws your own numbness or even dumbness back on you if you aren't open minded or still have a good taste. A rare treasure that really deserves a release on DVD! Especially today with the discussion about increasing involvement of computers in our daily life this movie is more worth watching than ever, also because of the wonderful dialogues and the questions that are asked.

Demon Seed is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Dean R. Koontz. I wasn't sure what to expect when I first saw this film. Needless to say, I was impressed. Whilst the idea of a megalomaniacal computer is not new, it is used to great effect. Proteus IV is a computer that actually questions the tasks it has been made to do and what the relevance of those tasks are. It also seems to have emotion and is heard several times to other characters in the film that he does not wish to hurt them when they are not co-operating with his demands. Although aspects of this film are now dated ( particularly the computer equipment ),Proteus IV's interesting philosophy, Julie Christie and Fritz Weaver's performances and the unexpected creepy ending make this film worth watching.

Demon Seed fmovies. I watched this one yesterday and all I can say is:wow!Very clever,intelligent and stylish horror/sci-fi with some memorable visuals and lots of suspense.Julie Christie("Don't Look Now")is excellent in the lead role,and Donald Cammell's direction is well-handled.The film is pretty hard to find,so if you get a chance watch it!9 out of 10-a must-see!

Demon Seed is a solid, independent science fiction thriller, regretfully overshadowed by the tragic fade of its director Donald Cammell. He was a devoted filmmaker who never really could depend on much support from both critics and distributors. His career started in a minor key, with `Performance' suffering from a lot of re-editing. Similar problems with his last film `Wild Side' drove him into committing suicide.

Don't let the technical mumbo-jumbo at the beginning of `Demon Seed' trick youÂ…The first half hour leads you to believe this film is a theoretical suspense-thriller but in fact, the premise is more simple and appealing to a wider audience. `Proteus' is the name of a super computer, designed by scientist Alex Harris, in order to help him with his research. Yet, Proteus is so smart he soon develops an own will. Continuously growing stronger, Proteus perpetrates Alex's house and keeps his wife as a hostage. Proteus's goal is to impregnate Suzan (Julie Chrisie)Â…

Proteus is like a feared computer-virus in a pre-internet era! A super computer thinking & handling for itself! Which is, according to me, a very successful horror formula. The absence of a villain in the shape of a man helps increasing the tension. The setting of the over-protected house is great and causes uncomfortable feelings of claustrophobia. Julie Christie (the female star of `Don't Look Now') is great and almost carries the entire film. The visual effects in `Demon Seed' may look a bit dated by now, but the film still contains one of the greatest decapitations ever andÂ…an outstanding ending! I swear to youÂ…if you thought the whole movie was only so-so, the last 5 minutes will make you think more highly of it.

This movie deserves much more ratings & reviews. This movie was great back in 1977, it was so much ahead of its time. Even in 2004 this is still a great movie.When I was younger & seen this movie, I thought " man what a cool house ", then once the stuff started happening, I was like " oh man it fights back ", need I say for awhile I was scared of stuff in house ( TV, fridge, stove, stero). I have this movie on VHS & have lent it to friends to watch, they all enjoy it , some not as much as I, but they all agree this movie is ahead of its time. I strongly suggest anyone who has not seen this movie, don't listen to the reviews, go watch it for yourself & you decide.