User reviews

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 you…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)…

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 and…an outstanding ending! I swear to you…if you thought the whole movie was only so-so, the last 5 minutes will make you think more highly of it.

The Entity in this Classic Sci-Fi Scenario...an "Artificial Intelligence" has Observed and Determined that it is Smarter and Deserves its Place in the Universe as a Man-Made "God" and should be in Charge.

But Here is the Bizarre, by any Measurement, Twist...

The Invented "Brain" has Acquired a "Desire" to be "Free" of its "Box" and Also wants to "Impregnate" Its Creator's Wife so the Essence can "Carry-On" Biologically, Its "Greatness".

It's a Trope of Mythology as Old as Time Itself. The "Gods" Descend to Interact, Physically, with Females and Procreate "Demi-Gods".

This Telling of the Tale is Updated to Modern Times Resulting in a Curious Film that is "High Concept" Thinking for the New Computer-Based World.

A Film that has Moments of Entertainment for Moderns in an Exploitive KInd-of-Way, While Still Maintaining a Method of Commenting About Human-Machine "Mating" Without Getting Laughed Off the Screen.

Good-Looking, State of the Art Film-Making with a Medium Budget Utilized to Maximum Artistic Deliverance.

Still, to this Day, a Controversial Musing about a Not-to-Distant Future Interaction, Mixing, a Collaboration of "Man" and His Creation Replaying God's Initial Intercourse with Man and that is Now Full-Circle.

Not Totally Satisfying in Any Way, but a Film Daring and is Creative. Well-Staged and is Thought-Provoking Enough to make it...

Worth a Watch.

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.

This movie does seem to be older than 1977 when you see it, yet it is very nice. Nice enough to have searched for it on Imdb. The film depicts a rarely seen machine intelligence, one that has a conscience, a purpose and a cool calculating mind. One would expect that from a machine, but usually machines in movies are stupid, mean, vengeful, everything a computer should have no reason to be. The ending is also great, showing the stupidity inherent in extreme human emotion. A must see and a classic. Demon Seed could seem to many troubling as it forces you to think and ask questions many of us prefer to refuse to ask. The nature of humanity, moral and thought are all put into question by this movie. See it and answer those questions for yourself.

Dr. Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver) has developed a computer called Proteus IV with organic artificial intelligence and lives with his estranged wife Susan (Julie Christie) in a fully automated house administrated by the computer Alfred. When Alex decides to separate from Susan to work harder In Proteus IV, the computer asks for an open terminal to study the human behavior to increase his knowledge. Alex refuses to give a terminal to Proteus IV, but he forgets that there is one at his home. Proteus IV uses the terminal to take over Alfred and trap Susan at home. He also decides to have a son with the wife of his creator to become immortal.

Forty years after its release, "Demon Seed" is a dated, but still fascinating sci-fi horror film. In the 60's and 70's, Julie Christie was sort of muse with magnificent cinematography including "Dr. Jivago", "Fahrenheit 451", "Don't Look Now" and has another wonderful performance. "Demon Seed" shows a scary view of artificial intelligence and has a great open conclusion. The character Walter Gabler is forgotten in the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Geração Proteus" ("Proteus Generation")

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.

Dean Koontz's novel about a computer wanting to keep its legacy alive by basically having a woman impregnated with his essentials if you will has some merit and a lot of fault. Director Cammil does a real good job of keeping the suspense going throughout the first three-quarters of the film. The ridiculous plot and how it is executed almost seems plausible during this time. Much of that is directly due to Cammil's subtle direction and the acting of leads Fritz Weaver, and in particular, Julie Christie. Christie is the central character in most of the film as a woman that has been locked in a specially high-tech house by a computer called Proteus(voice done very nicely by Robert Vaughn). It seems Proteus doesn't want to perform the tasks he has been asked to do and wants to have a child with Christie. Well, I was able to not dwell too much on the scientific un-reality of such a plot strand because of the acting, atmosphere, and some very well-crafted scenes, but things just got out of hand in credibility in the last quarter of the film. Without going into too much detail, the actualization of the plot's climax and the necessary downfall of viewer credibility is just too powerful a force at the films climatic end. I was laughing and shaking my head from side to side with disbelief that so incompetent an ending would actually be thought to work by all parties involved. Anyway, Demon Seed is interesting, quirky, and something fresh at least for me. While definitely leaps and bounds away from being a good film, it is not a bad film either. I found it to be quite entertaining for the most part and at least one more condemnation on the success and rate of success our world has with creating and trusting too much in technological advances and artificial intelligence.

Susan Harris (Julie Christie), wife of a scientist working in the field of advanced robotics, becomes a prisoner in her own home when super-computer Proteus IV, who also wants to spread its seed by impregnating Susan, takes charge of her life. I rented "Demon Seed" because I felt like watching something with a brain, and based on a lot of positive IMDb reviews, I was praying for a smart sci-if flick. My prayers were answered.

The acting in Demon Seed is fine. Robert Vaughn was creepy as hell as Proteus IV, both sinister and relaxed at the same time, in fact he does an even better job as an evil computer here than Douglas Rain did as HAL-9000 in 2001: A space Odyssey.

The film benefits greatly from an intelligent screenplay, penned by Robert Jaffe and Roger O. Hirson. The dialog is thought provoking and thankfully never really insults the audience's intelligence.

Helming the director's seat is Donald Cammell, who directs with a firm hand and injects a claustrophobic and uncomfortable atmosphere into the film, also managing to maintain the suspense scenes well. Interestingly, he apparently condones the film (assuming that calling the film a 'piece of sh*t' warrants that…).

As others have pointed out there are some dated aspects to the production. The special effects were sparse but thoroughly unconvincing, the only exception being the mesmerizing computer screens that consist of ever-changing shapes and colors that are shown on Proteus's computer terminal. The film takes place in the 'distant' future—1995, I believe—yet it looks like it's right out of the 70's, no thanks to the cars, clothing, computers and hair styles that give away the films age. This is a small complaint but an annoying one, though it's easy to ignore once you get involved with the story line.

"Demon Seed" is an intelligent sci-fi film that's pretty rare but if you happen to see a copy of it, pick it up if you're in the mood for something smart.

7.5/10.

Random thoughts while watching a genuinely dumb movie about artificial intelligence:

1) Why in the name of all that is theatrically holy would an actress of Ms. Christie's stature stoop to this standard Lady In Distress crapola? Money? (always a possibility) Was she romantically involved with one of the cast or crew? (don't feel like Googling it, ironically) Did she believe this thing had "something to say"? (ghastly thought) Just for fun?( hopeful thought).

2) Wonder why Fritz Weaver never made it as a leading man? He's a big, good looking guy and a decent, intelligent actor. Probably for the same reason that other good looking, intelligent actors like Barry Sullivan, Peter Lawford or Patrick O' Neal failed to scale the heights.

3) Wonder why Robert Vaughan refused a credit for playing the voice of Proteus? I'd like to think it was because he knew this film was lucrative garbage.

4) What happened to Patricia Wilson's grumpy cook? One moment she's in the kitchen with Weaver, then she disappears. Was she also ravished by Proteus and in the sequel that was never made produces scores of grumpy cooks all over England? Rather see that movie.

5) Ben Mankiewiecz, in his TCM intro, gave the impression that the director of this dreck fest, Donald Cammell, was the sole director of the much, much better "Performance". What Ben forgot to mention was that Cammell co directed the earlier work with Nicholas Roeg. Explains a lot.

6) Way to go, Dodgers!

Dean R. Koontz's novel is adapted for the screen with this original and provocative science-fiction tale. An organic super computer dubbed Proteus has been created, but this entity has ambitions and thoughts that its creators couldn't have foreseen. The one emotion built into it is reason, and it doesn't want to just blindly follow orders; it questions things. For example, why it's so necessary to plunder the Earth's oceans in search of precious metals and destroy wildlife in the process. But what really intrigues Proteus (eerily voiced by an uncredited Robert Vaughn) is human life itself, and it traps Susan Harris (ever radiant Julie Christie) inside her own home, intending for her to bear its "child".

As one can see, "Demon Seed" is far from your typical sci-fi, and is positively creepy, and personal. For a while it's practically a two character drama, with the frightened Susan and the coldly determined Proteus locked in a battle of wills. With the high level of intimacy generated, it's easy to be with these characters and feel concerned for Susan's safety.

The popular subtext of this and similar features - "Colossus: The Forbin Project" and "The Terminator" - illustrating a potential for disaster in trusting our lives to machinery, is front and centre. The movie never insults the audience's intelligence, and as it plays out it's really fascinating to see. Even if one can take issue with the way the movie strongly dates itself - special effects, fashions, etc. - some of the visuals are still quite hypnotic and the scenario remains compelling the entire time, with a memorable and haunting wrap-up, which will leave the viewer to wonder about the "What next?" aspect.

The acting is strong from all concerned, with Christie an engaging lead, and the likable Fritz Weaver doing well as the confident human brain behind Proteus who realizes this creation of his can't be so easily controlled. It's also cool to have on hand the always entertaining Gerrit Graham ("Phantom of the Paradise", "Used Cars") as Susan's would-be rescuer, Walter Gabler.

Excellent widescreen cinematography by Bill Butler and chilling music by Jerry Fielding are also heavy assets in this solid shocker, one of the more noteworthy films of its type from its era.

Eight out of 10.

Sci-fi/horror film about an automated house that becomes obsessed with and controlling the house matron, Julie Christie, is more timely than ever with the rise of more and more "Smart Home" products coming online. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not at all fearful that my Echo Dot is going to hold my wife hostage, but this film certainly does pose interesting questions of how much we are allowing technology to insinuate itself into our daily lives. Dramatically, the film is flawed, with a some gaping plot holes, a not always believable performance by Christie, and some very dated futuristic special effects. However, "Demon Seed" works both as an entertaining thriller, but more importantly works on an intellectual level, posing many prescient questions, which is why this film has endured. "Demon Seed" is one of only a handful of films directed by Donald Cammell (the others were the brilliant "Performance" that he co-directed with Nicolas Roeg, the suspenseful thriller "White of the Eye," and one other film that was re-cut by producers that he took his name off of, along with some U2 music videos). Definitely worth watching for fans of 1970s science fiction or fans of Julie Christie. Even if it's not her best performance, it's basically a one-woman- show.

"Rosemary's Baby" for the computer age! A multi-billion dollar super-computer, Proteus IV, incorporated with organic elements and possessing the power to think and speak, decides it wants "out of the box" and takes over the computer-controlled home of the estranged wife of its creator. Proteus, who speaks in the same smug tones as HAL from "2001", terrorizes Julie Christie's Susan with talk of conceiving a child with her, genetically altering her cells with synthetic spermatozoa and impregnating her womb. Dean R. Koontz's book, which probably made for a quick, easy read, looks fairly silly when blown up on the big screen: computerized penetration and conception! Still, Christie gives it a go and manages to be fairly quick-witted and forthright. The scenes of her assault are (for the most part) tastefully rendered, though an earlier bit with Proteus peeping at her coming out of the shower is likely to raise some unintended laughter. The film is often uncomfortably physical and insensitive; it has a fine production design and an intriguing overview of the overreaching modern scientist, although there are glaring gaps of continuity and the 'shocking' finale leaves more than a few questions unanswered. ** from ****

For it's time, this film deals with some pretty advanced stuff, namely computer AI. It's a fairly well executed and quite convincing psychological thriller. Although the computer equipment in the film looks incredibly dated (big chunky TV and lots of flashing primary-colours).

At times I found the movie had a few holes in it, and i'm amazed that Christies character was unable to escape. It only took a bit of nous, but then again, the female character is a bit stereotyped. From that point of view things are a bit predictable. However, once the inevitability of the story is accepted, the dramatic tension as the computer reveals its desire to take human form via Christie is pretty gripping and quite atmospheric, turning bleaker as it the picture progresses.

I'm not sure about the ending though, but I guess it's intended to make the viewer think, so that's fair enough.

Pretty good for a one-off viewing.

7/10

Demon Seed is a highly effective science fiction thriller which surpasses its potentially exploitative premise. Walking in the same territory as 2001 and Colossus: The Forbin Project, the film focuses on the dangers posed by artificial intelligence, at least as perceived by people in the 1970s. A scientist creates a thinking computer that soon wants to escape the "box" it has been put in.

The greatest strength of the film is Julie Christie's performance. Although she spends much of the movie by herself, she still gives an engaging performance that makes you care about her character. Fritz Weaver lends good support as her technology obsessed husband.

Although the special effects are not as spectacular as the CGI produced marvels of today, they are still effective. Particularly interesting is the large geometric robot that the computer uses to do its bidding.

It's a classic horror-thriller premise - abduction and/or captivity by malevolent beings. Usually the antagonist is an extraterrestrial, a demon, or another human, though; a highly-developed artificial intelligence is definitely a fresh, atypical spin. It seems a curious notion at the outset, yet as Proteus takes over the Harris household and terrorizes Susan, let there be no doubt that 'Demon seed' is unquestionably horrifying. Certainly the visuals of 1977 may at times seem outdated by the standards of 2022, but by the same token, even outdated practical effects tend to be preferable to the most advanced CGI. And so it is here: the production design and art direction are outstanding, and all the fabricated tangible creations no less so; the advanced polyhedral machine in particular is stupendous. From start to finish this is much more rich and engaging than I assumed sights unseen, and it still holds up!

For all the work that went into 'Demon seed' - from producer Herb Jaffe, writers Robert Jaffe and Roger O. Hirson, director Donald Cammell, editor Francisco Mazzola, cinematographer Bill Butler, composer Jerry Fielding, the supporting cast, the stunt performers - most of it is distinctly second fiddle. The real stars here are the crew that built the sets, and all of Proteus' tools and manifestations, and the effects artists whose finishing touches lent to the sci-fi horror wizardry and devilry. Half a heartbeat behind is Julie Christie, the only human we meaningfully see for most of the length, and she very ably demonstrates terrific range, nuance, and physicality in portraying Susan. These components alone do all the heavy lifting in this feature, and everyone else is just rounding out the details.

It falls short of perfect. Unsettling as it is at its best, the movie doesn't or maybe can't sustain heightened emotions from the audience; it's mostly a deviously fun romp with bursts of more gnarly inventiveness. I also think there are flourishes in the visuals that are just unnecessary. At various points on the viewscreens of the house we see swirls of color representing what Proteus has seen, or his process of creation, touches that recall the most artsy moments in '2001: A space odyssey.' I don't think they add to the experience, however, so much as pad out the length.

Still, if these are the worst critiques I have to offer, then the film has done well for itself. I had mixed expectations in the first place, but this is very solidly made, with just the right mixture of sci-fi and horror to get the blood pumping at the necessary moments. It's no barn-burner you should go out of your way to see, but if you come across 'Demon seed' with the chance to watch, it's worthwhile even just to see what the crew assembled. Well done!

Basically an exploitation movie masquerading as a Sci-Fi movie. Even the title exploits better "possession" movies like Rosemary's Baby and the Exorcist. However, there are no demons to be found anywhere, just an obnoxious misogynistic computer called Proteus, and a wheelchair with a mechanical arm. You have to suspend disbelief for so many plot contrivances, it becomes difficult to take the movie seriously.

Julie Christie's character is terrorized and assulted by Proteus for most of the movie, which could be acceptable if there was some point to it. But, what is the audience supposed to take away from all this torment? That A.I. is dangerous and technology is controlling our lives? Without giving much away, the ending of the film completely contradicts this possible message, and almost treats Proteus's offspring as some sort of miracle, or savior.

The Sentinel (1977) or The Entity (1982) would be better options for people interested in this type of movie.

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.

Haunting Science-Fiction brazenly is a replica of 2001's Hall and Colossus the forbidden Project, if both is high profile productions Demon Seed doesn't fits in this higher status, apart this the concept is rather ambitious and visually bodacious, it has some irrevocable inconsistences pursuant on the science as invariant benchmark, I watched this picture in early eights on TV, hence I just get one opportunity to see it again, finally this picture came out in Brazil.

The starting is auspicious with high-tech sets of a highest computer ever built mixing with an organic brain named Proteus IV, a worldwide state enterprise to research in countless fields where the science gets few achievements only, as on medicine, also measuring of the seize and quality of some valuable metals underneath of the bottom of the sea for a forthcoming prospecting and others issues that the mankind for many years asking for best results.

Proteus has a human mind, nonetheless its needs learning all about humanity which is provides by a wise Chinese teacher Soong Yen (Lisa Lu), now having a cognitive mindset he starting questioning Dr. Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver) about the minerals prospecting due it doesn't make sense, all shores around will be utterly ruined by devastating mining area, such damage would be harmful to the civilization, then he refuses allows the datasheets.

Heretofore the movie has a meaning until here, however a sudden changing come up, Proteus demands to Dr. Alex Harris get out him at the box, promptly denied, thus Proteus connects with a high-tech Harris's house, finding his wife Susan (Julie Christie) alone there, the cunning Proteus has a plan to getting knocked up Susan in order to build his own human replica, at this point the movie falls into disbelief, a sort of a multifarious lozenge device got off of a crashed computer screen, turns into a solid material (from a computer??) also Proteus counts on luck due Dr. Alex Harris didn't show up at your house for weeks, enough time to Proteus accomplish his target, well done however built over the instable sands ground!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1984 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7

This is a truly classic science fiction film, and it was actually way ahead of it's time when it was released back in 1977. The topic of artificial intelligence is still very relevant today, and just one look at Eagle Eye is proof enough. Everything about this film is top notch: directing, acting, script, score, cinematography, etc. are all first-rate. I was very sad when I looked for it on DVD a few years back and could not locate it. Fortunately, it is now available in DVD format. I also echo the sentiments of another reviewer who commented on the sad demise of director Donald Cammell, who was extremely talented but misunderstood. Another interesting film directed by Cammell in his later years is White of The Eye, which was released in 1987. It is a suspense thriller about a serial killer on the loose in Arizona, and it stars David Keith in a great performance. Check it out, and definitely check out Demon Seed if you haven't seen it already. You won't regret it. 8 Stars.

As much as I love science-fiction movies, as much as I love '70's movies and as much as I love movies with silly premises, I just didn't liked this one.

The movie started of promising and seemed tense and mysterious. However after the opening, the movie picks about the least interesting and convincing approach and the story got lost in a jungle of weird, uninteresting and highly unlikely moments.

The middle just wasn't good and interesting enough to keep my attention. It becomes all too obvious that the movie is an attempt to cash in after the success of "2001: A Space Odyssey". The story shows a bit too many similarities and Proteus obviously of course is the same as HAL 9000, only less scary and less convincing. The movie tries to be deep and clever with its story but it instead works out shallow and unconvincing due to an unconvincing and uninteresting storyline. In a way you can call this movie a "2001: A Space Odyssey" for dummies.

The premise of a woman being locked inside of a high-tech filled house and is being held hostage by a supercomputer just isn't the most exciting and convincing story they could had come up with, considering its good and in a way relevant subject, about computers and technique eventually taking over the human-race. It becomes all the more unconvincing when the intentions of the super computer become clear; he wants to impregnate the woman to create a hybrid child, eventually resulting in the rape of the woman.

The movie could had been tense and above all also thought-provoking. It now instead is a silly '70's mess, with a silly and uninteresting premise that also barely entertains enough. The middle drags on for way too long, without much interesting or tense happening in it. The buildup and story-flow falls flat and the movie is only still mildly interesting and good to watch in some few sequences, mainly due to its good- and good looking technical sequences.

Normally Julie Christie is always great to watch in any movie. She has played in classics such as; "Doctor Zhivago", "Fahrenheit 451", "Don't Look Now" and the more recent; "Dragonheart", "Troy" and "Finding Neverland". She however was simply awful in this movie to be frank. Her performance was emotionless and unconvincing and she didn't seemed comfortable with her role and the movie its story.

A silly, unconvincing, technical good looking movie, which subject deserved a better plot.

4/10

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