Demonic
IFC Films | Release Date: August 20, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
36
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
12
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
69
Paste MagazineNatalia KeoganAug 19, 2021
For all of its lackluster holy leanings, Demonic still achieves an air of abject horror, aided in no small part by Ola Strandh’s electro-exorcism score. The demon’s design is also consistently terrifying, whether it is enveloped in a neon-soaked backlight or morphing into unpredictable and increasingly abominable versions of itself. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAug 17, 2021
Even if it becomes a little more familiar in the third act, especially to fans of that weird era of Nineties supernatural action thrillers like End of Days and Fallen, it's undeniable that Demonic rips open new technical possibilities for horror. Read full review
60
CineVueMartyn ConterioSep 5, 2021
The Vatican using VR technology to seek out victims of the demonically possessed is an intriguing and weirdly logical progression for the 21st century (move over exorcists, now we have techxorcists), but what generally lets the movie down is its bland dialogue, bland casting, and routine approach to frights. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesTara BradyAug 26, 2021
Co-written with Blomkamp’s District 9 collaborator Terri Tatchell, the film has agreeably creepy blurred ideas about the human experience and the simulated experience. And it’s never dull. Read full review
58
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackAug 23, 2021
Unfortunately, Demonic often lacks the substance and energy needed to back up its narrative originality and hybrid genre form. While it is refreshing to see the groundedness with which the director approaches his newest project, his larger-than-life ideas still seem to have trouble finding their exact footing. Read full review
50
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaAug 26, 2021
Demonic promises a fun and fascinating premise, but its scattered pieces barely coalesce. Read full review
50
Screen RantSarah Bea MilnerAug 22, 2021
More subdued than most Exorcist-inspired flicks, yet with a raw, vibrant edge that places the viewer into the action, Demonic offers more than the conventional possession story — but falls just short of being a thoroughly frightening film. Read full review
50
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaAug 16, 2021
Everything feels so sterile, filmed under cold, harsh lights. It’s one of the most horror-free horror movies in recent memory. Maybe Blomkamp should give sci-fi another shot. Read full review
42
The PlaylistNick AllenAug 16, 2021
Blomkamp continues to baffle even more with Demonic, as he’s made a horror film that is so rote it’s hardly scary, all to showcase a developing technology that is intriguing as a sales pitch but unconvincing as a narrative device. Read full review
42
The Film StageEli FriedbergAug 16, 2021
Blomkamp, one suspects, does not possess the same imagination for interior worlds he’s exhibited for external. Demonic largely proves this thesis correct. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubCharles BramescoAug 16, 2021
While Blomkamp does have one impressive CGI trick up his sleeve, he totally drops the ball on the narrative end of things. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichAug 16, 2021
The 80 minutes of the movie that are set in flesh-and-blood reality can’t help but seem flat by comparison, as the thrust of the film’s story is so functionally reverse-engineered from its central gimmick that Demonic winds up feeling like a glorified proof-of-concept video that should have been exorcised of any grander ambitions. Read full review
40
The GuardianMike McCahillAug 30, 2021
The connective circuitry is too identikit for Demonic to be especially distinctive. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyAug 26, 2021
In the end, Demonic is all simulation, no real scares. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 20, 2021
Whatever is keeping Neill Blomkamp so reserved that he delivered a film as dispiritingly rote as Demonic—that’s what needs an exorcism. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 18, 2021
Demonic just makes you wonder whatever possessed Blomkamp in thinking it would work. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChuck BowenAug 16, 2021
Like District 9, the film is a genre outing with big ideas that’s more committed to the power of arsenals and pyrotechnics. Read full review
35
PolygonAusten GoslinAug 20, 2021
Demonic is a frustrating movie, because in spite of all the problems, the world Blomkamp sets up is exciting and original. Read full review
30
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 18, 2021
At one point, a character in a coma is referred to as having Locked-In Syndrome, which means that she’s still aware of her surroundings but is totally unable to move. By the end of Demonic, you’ll know just how she feels. Read full review
20
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 19, 2021
Flat acting, risible dialogue, a witless story — sometimes when a movie hits this trifecta so completely, it engenders a feeling of disreputable pleasure. It’s bad, and you know it, and maybe the filmmakers know it too. Read full review
19
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiAug 17, 2021
Demonic isn’t just a low-budget supernatural–sci-fi thriller; it’s also a shallow one, a boring one, a poorly conceived one — and the characters stink too. Read full review
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