Demonic has a lot going on in its new trailer. It’s the new horror movie from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, and the trailer released on Wednesday tries to set up its story, but it’s so weird that I can’t tell if it did a great job or a terrible one.
Things start out pretty simple with a young woman (Carly Pope) reconnecting with her mother (Nathalie Boltt) after she’s suffered some kind of medical emergency. The mom is under sedation after a homicidal episode, and in this world, that means she’s currently living in a virtual reality simulation. So the young woman goes into the simulation to talk to her mom, but somehow she brings back demons out of the simulation and into the real world — I think?
While this is definitely really bad, because now demons are running loose on Earth, it turns out that the Vatican has a plan for this kind of thing? The Catholic city-state apparently employs a black ops army of priests who fight demons using assault rifles, swords, crosses, and possibly Bibles.
Honestly, if the movie is half as good as this premise, it’s going to be amazing.
This is Blomkamp’s first movie since the heavily-memed Chappie (2015), and his fourth film in total. He made Elysium in 2013, but he’s probably best known for his 2009 breakout, the Oscar-nominated District 9. While there are certainly a few creepy elements in District 9, Demonic will be Blomkamp’s first full foray into horror — or maybe it’s action-horror, you know, because of the gun-priests.
Demonic is set to hit theaters on Aug. 20.
