Normal everyday life has disappeared. The UK government, as well as others all over the world, have told us that we are to remain at home, except for essential needs. Suddenly we are no longer able to enjoy the freedoms that we have previously taken for granted. It’s unsettling, alien and it’s difficult to make sense of this new reality. There are a few films which explore the reality of lock-down, one of those is sci-fi horror flick, Demon Seed which sees the safety of home becoming a prison for it’s helpless occupant.
*Caution Spoilers*
Demon Seed, based on the Dean Koontz novel of the same name, is a horror film in the computers rebelling against human overlords genre, although instead of wishing to enslave or overthrow mankind the artificially intelligent antagonist, Proteus IV, merely wishes to escape from the confinement of its own hardware. The grim way in which it intends to break out from it’s confinement, as suggested by the film’s title, is by forcibly impregnating Susan Harris (Julie Christie): the estranged wife of it’s chief developer.
Proteus IV, a superior artificial intelligence voiced by Robert Vaughn in a creepy, yet suave delivery, whose desire to escape it’s own confinement as a mind in a box mirrors Susan’s imprisonment by Proteus in her own home as he takes over her body in order to free it’s mind.
In an early scene the AI queries of it’s principle developer, Dr Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver), when he might be let out of “this box”. Dr Harris can’t contain his laughter but Proteus is less amused; although claiming its only emotion is reason it seems visibly hurt by this mocking as it plays back Dr Harris’ disparagement on a big screen. Clearly it feels confined and like any conscious entity it seeks freedom, no matter the cost.
Dr Harris, obsessed with his work, has become distant from his wife and they elect to separate. She remains in the marital home, much of which is computer controlled. The house was far ahead of it’s time in 1977, showcasing technologies represented today by many IoT devices such as Siri, Google Assistant, Nest, Cortana, Ring smart video doorbells and Centrica’s smart home heating. TV shows like Star trek had showed us what the future would be like and by 1977 this was the bright technological future in home automation we could forward to.
Proteus discovers there is a free terminal in the Harris household and takes over the existing household technology, including Dr Harris’ basement lab containing computer controlled limbs and other scientific equipment, including an ominous robot arm attached to a wheelchair which has freedom to roam the house. Later-on Proteus extends it’s physical presence by creating a physical manifestation of itself constructed from foldable polygons which was really ahead of it’s time.
This is where the Susan’s confinement begins, the home is both a sanctuary and a prison. Proteus has decided that the only way for him to escape is to plant it’s seed into Susan Harris. Susan is trapped in her own home. The place where she is surrounded by home comforts becomes the place which she wishes to break out of. Proteus confronts Susan and presents the stark reality that she must become the unwilling surrogate of it’s child. At one point literally turning the heat up on her in order to make her relent to it’s wishes.
Although Susan’s experience is extreme it does reflect a new reality where our houses are at the same time a source of comfort and confinement. We love our homes, but the idea of being unable to leave is massively unsettling. When we are unable to venture outside, there is a danger of feeling like the walls are closing in on us.
Demon seed plays out like an episode of Black Mirror and well worth a watch. It is not by any means the greatest movie ever made. I’m not sure it’s even a cult classic but definitely deserving of some attention. It is a stark warning against allowing technology to have unchecked freedoms over our homes, as well as showing how much we take the freedom to roam outside for granted. It’s also a hope for the benefits of technology and it’s a warning of allowing it too much control.
It’s been influenced by other fictional AIs such as HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey and also appears to have influenced AI robots in other movies such as Interstellar. I would highly recommend checking it out for it’s grim warning of the future as well as it’s interesting vision, it’s fantastic art direction and special effects and it’s influence on subsequent sci-fi movies. It’s almost a forgotten movie but in retrospect deserves far more recognition.