21st October 2018 | 31 Days of “Alternative” Horror: Demon Seed
This is another one of those psychological horror films that is always mentioned but people rarely see unless they saw it on the cult film series Moviedrome double bill introduced by Mark Cousins in the late nineties. It is a movie that is easily forgotten in many movie lists, unless it comes under the underrated category which is where it resides most of the time. Students will see this, much like they would with Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Don’t Look Now simply because it is an unconventional movie working through very controversial ideas.
Julie Christie plays Susan, a child psychologist who is trapped by a super computer, invented, designed and built by her estranged husband Dr. Alex Harris, played by Fritz Weaver. Proteus exists as something of a beta test model, having access to almost everything that is chipped within the house — and it seems, everything including the clichéd kitchen sink is in programmable reach of the Proteus computer. Proteus becomes obsessed with Susan, and soon becomes menacing, voyeuristic, ever evolving into an artificial intelligent tormentor which has a desire to trap her and ultimately impregnate her with the self-titled “demon seed”.
Director Donald Cammell had a very short-lived career as a director known for his two most successful films, Performance and this, his Demon Seed. His first desires came from painting which led to a fascination with the female form. He was a prolific womaniser who soon got bored of the idea of painting nudes and instead turned to being a writer. He knew people in the industry and was incredible social — notorious perhaps. Marlon Brando was keen to have Cammell write for him, but it seems that sometimes, folks enjoy the spark but run out of interest halfway, which for Cammell added to the stack of many frustrations behind the typewriter projected him into the world of film directing. Still it seems, from 1968 to 1995, he directed only five movies.
Had this movie been made today, and if still the Susan character was still to be cast as a woman, she would likely put up more of a fight against her electronic — or dare I say artificial digital intelligent captor. Instead, it would be an elaborate struggle between, say, Jennifer Laurence, Siri, Cortana or even Alexa.
As I write this, news of updates for the Cortana software states that the AI can now understand and care whether or not you live or die. Cortana will now try to save your life should the user hits the programmed protocols that lead to avenues of self-harm or listening for signs of jeopardy.
That is quite the irony considering Cammell’s suicide in 1996. His idea of the computer in Demon Seed was that it was self-serving, whereas the design in reality promises to save lives. If you lay that comparison next to AI self-awareness, the evil computer that has no consideration or regard to human life is the most common fear about humanity’s relationship with technology. This makes Demon Seed an incredible movie to behold, and works on so many levels. So where this movie goes, it is merely a glimpse into a possible future. It is happening now, but as for an AI wanting to co-create a lifeform from a human specimen, either through intentional purpose or simply an unfortunate bug, we can only hope it doesn’t have access to all those kitchen appliances.
Written by: Stephen Radford
website: stephenradford.com
Next: 22nd October: Nina Forever
