Neill Blomkamp is a multi-talented creator. As a director, producer, screenwriter and animator, the South African-born auteur came out swinging in 2009 with District 9. The film is a wholly original sci-fi offering that's equal parts thrilling and horrifying. Nominated for four Academy Awards, including the coveted Best Picture, District 9's accolades are an incredible feat for a directorial debut -- not to mention the sci-fi genre, rarely represented in the Best Picture category.
Following the immense high of early acclaim, though, Blomkamp followed up District 9 with a somewhat underwhelming Elysium in 2013 and an unfortunate flop with Chappie two years later. The latter's utter failure had such a profound effect on Blomkamp that he all but disappeared from the feature film scene. Now, Blomkamp is finally releasing a new full-length film -- but it seems that six years later, the world's rejection of Chappie has resulted in horror.
Chappie released in 2015 to mostly negative reviews, now sitting at a dismal 32 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Critic Peter Sobczynski at RogerEbert.com called it a "misconceived work from a once-celebrated science-fiction visionary," while CBR's own Philip Pirrello referred to the film as "a mess of bad writing [and] terrible storytelling." It was these scorching critiques of Chappie that led to Blomkamp stepping away from making features and focusing on his short films.
Blomkamp has spoken candidly about how "unbelievably painful" the post-Chappie experience was for him. Despite making the exact film he intended to, the seemingly unanimous rejection of Chappie affected him deeply. Blomkamp maintains that he loves Chappie and achieved what he had set out to, but the fact that his ideas were missed had him re-evaluating his creative identity. "[Chappie] definitely hurt several parts of my career, I think," Blomkamp told Den of Geek. "I feel like I got it right with Chappie, and then when the audience turns on you, that puts you in a different place."
That different place is apparently a new genre entirely. While Blomkamp's first three features all sit at a similar point on the science fiction spectrum, his first full-length release since The Great Chappie Mishap-y will be much scarier than bad reviews.
Blomkamp started shooting Demonic after the COVID-19 pandemic began, able to self-finance and film in rural areas around his home in British Columbia. The director has said that Demonic is a sci-fi horror movie with supernatural elements, inspired by low-budget successes like Paranormal Activity. Starring Carly Pope, Chris William Martin and Michael Rogers, Demonic revolves around a decades-old familial rift with supernatural roots that results in one woman unleashing terrifying demons. An official trailer for Demonic has yet to be released, but Blomkamp has shared a brief cut of eerie, 8mm behind-the-scenes footage.
The question is: With such a departure from his trademark, will Blomkamp's pandemic horror flick be distinctively... Blomkamp? A horror film boasting the same unique aesthetic and technical choices as District 9 would be a breath of fresh air. Mockumentary-style and found footage horror films are nothing new, but Blomkamp's approach to blending naturalistic and photo-realistic CGI effects would be interesting elements to witness amid the onscreen terror. Whatever the end result may be, hopefully it garners more positivity than good ol' Chappie, because Hollywood has missed the singular vision of Neill Blomkamp.
Demonic will be released in theaters on Aug. 20 and on VOD/digital on Aug. 27 via IFC Midnight.
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