Demonic (2021) Production Notes

A young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of her childhood trauma are uncovered in this horror thriller from visionary director Neill Blomkamp.

Please note: Some production notes may contain spoilers.

LONG SYNOPSIS

When Carly Spenser (Carly Pope) learns that her estranged mother Angela (Nathalie Boltt) has fallen into a coma, she reluctantly agrees to take part in a cutting-edge therapy that will allow her to tap into Angela’s still-active brain and communicate with her. Observed by physician Michael (Michael J. Rogers) and neuroscientist Daniel (Terry Chen), she enters a harrowing simulation of Angela’s mindscape where she discovers the powerful supernatural force that drove her mother to commit unspeakable acts of violence nearly two decades earlier. Afterward, haunted by terrifying visions, Carly joins forces with her old friend Martin (Chris William Martin) as she desperately tries to fend off the monstrous demon before it can enter a new host and inflict more pain and suffering on the world.

A horror thriller with a high-tech twist, Demonic is written and directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium). The film stars Carly Pope (“The Good Doctor,” Elysium), Chris William Martin (“Supergirl,” “The Vampire Diaries”), Michael J. Rogers (“Siren,” Welcome to the Circle), Nathalie Boltt (“Riverdale,” District 9), Kandyse McClure (“Charmed,” “Hemlock Grove”) and Terry Chen (“Jessica Jones,” “House of Cards”). Producers are Neill Blomkamp, Mike Blomkamp, Stuart Ford (The Secrets We Keep, The Rhythm Section) and Linda McDonough (Ender’s Game, Drive). Executive producers are Miguel A. Palos, Jr. (The Secrets We Keep, Midway), Alastair Burlingham (Boss Level, Escape Plan 2: Hades), Charlie Dombek (SAS: Red Notice, Ghosts of War), Viktor Muller and Steven St. Arnaud (“Cooking with Bill,” District 9).

The director of photography is Byron Kopman (“Past Never Dies,” Volition). Production designer is Richard Simpson. The film is edited by Austyn Daines (Travis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly, “Op-Docs”) with additional editing by Julian Clarke (District 9, Deadpool). Music is by Ola Strandh (From the Depths of My Heart). Visual effects supervisor is Viktor Muller (Blade Runner 2049, Terminator: Dark Fate).

VOLUMTERIC CAPTURE PIPELINE

The amount of volumetric capture in Neill Blomkamp’s DEMONIC, showcased during a dream sequence, is about 15-20 minutes and is the most ever seen in a feature film.

Unity, a volumetric video capture technology, provided Neil Blomkamp and team access to Project Inplay (code name), a patent-pending technology that solves the challenges that come along with Volumetric playback, rendering and streaming. Project Inplay allows efficient playback and rendering of large volumetric data (point clouds) in real-time, making it possible to craft experiences that are unmatched by traditional motion capture or 3d modelling.

Unique to Unity, Project InPlay (code name) makes it possible to dynamically relight volumetric capture. In general, volumetric data is captured with flat and limited lighting, but this innovative tech creates the ability to add dynamic lighting or shadows, and support realtime raytracing for pointcloud and volumetric data.

Volumetric capture can be challenging due to the sheer size of the datasets it creates. Unity created an end to end pipeline that allows rendering enormous volumetric datasets across devices easier and faster without worrying about the captured format. Project Inplay also allows rendering real-time volumetric data and the Demonic volumetric sequence in VR.

FILMMAKER BIOS

NEILL BLOMKAMP (Writer, Director) moved to Canada from his native South African at the age of 18, beginning his career as a visual effects artist in film and television. He is best known as the co-writer and director of District 9 (2009), Elysium (2013) and Chappie (2015). Since 2015 he has been developing experimental films for his independent company Oats Studios, including most notably, Rakka (2017), Firebase (2017) and Zygote (2017).

BYRON KOPMAN (Director of Photography) has shot four feature films, hundreds of commercials and countless music videos. He has travelled the world working on productions of all sizes and is passionate about all things film. Kopman has collaborated with Neill Blomkamp and his team for the past four years on a variety of Oats Studios films. All of his projects are a reflection of his hard work, commitment and dedication to his craft. He is based on Vancouver, Canada.

AUSTYN DAINES (Editor) has worked on numerous high-profile narrative, documentary and commercial projects with acclaimed filmmakers including Neill Blomkamp, Wally Pfister, Kevin McDonald and Errol Morris. Originally from Bend, Oregon, Daines majored in film at Savannah College of Art and Design before apprenticing under Angus Wall at Rock Paper Scissors. He is based in Los Angeles.

VIKTOR MULLER (Executive Producer, Visual Effects Supervisor) is an Emmy and Satellite Award-winning visual effects supervisor. As one of the founders of the Prague and Budapest based company Universal Production Partners, a.s. (UPP), he has overseen visual effects on such blockbuster films as Terminator: Dark Fate, Wonder Woman and Blade Runner 2049, which won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 2018. For his work in television, Muller received five Primetime Emmy Awards nominations as well as a VES Award nomination for his work on the AMC series The Terror. In 2019 he won the Bronze Award for Visual Effects at the Clio Awards for his work with filmmaker Neill Blomkamp on Anthem: Conviction.

AGC STUDIOS was founded and launched by Chairman and CEO Stuart Ford in February 2018 as a platform to develop, produce, finance and globally license a diverse portfolio of feature films; scripted, unscripted and factual television; and digital and musical content from its dual headquarters in Los Angeles and London. AGC is in a very busy production period. The company is in post-production on QUEENPINS from directors Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly, starring Kristen Bell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Vince Vaughn, and Paul Walter Hauser for Paramount+ and Showtime; they are a partner on Roland Emmerich’s recently wrapped MOONFALL starring Oscar® winner Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson for Lionsgate; produced and financed the recently completed DEMONIC from Neill Blomkamp to be released by IFC Midnight; and LOCKED DOWN from director Doug Liman starring Oscar® winner Anne Hathaway and Oscar® nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor which recently aired on HBO Max. They are in pre-production on THE PERFECT FIND from director Numa Perrier starring Gabrielle Union for Netflix; and LITTLE AMERICA from director Rowan Athale starring Sylvester Stallone. In addition, AGC is a co-financier and partner with CNN Films on LADY BOSS: THE JACKIE COLLINS STORY, which recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The studio’s television division, AGC Television, is in production on TINDER SWINDLER from Gaspin Media; just wrapped production on the television adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s NEWS OF A KIDNAPPING for Amazon Studios, and on Sebastian Gutierrez’s LEOPARD SKIN starring Carla Gugino; is in pre-production on TROPPO starring Thomas Jane; and premiering on EPIX this month is WAR OF THE WORLDS Season 2 starring Gabriel Byrne and Daisy Edgar-Jones, the studios’ production produced with Canal + and Fox.

UNIVERSAL PRODUCTION PARTNERS, A.S. (Visual Effects) is the largest and most versatile VFX and post production house in Central Europe. Founded in 1994 and based in Prague and Budapest, the award-winning company has collaborated with such visionary directors as Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Ron Howard, Denis Villeneuve, Ang Lee, Bong Joon Ho, Patty Jenkins and Neill Blomkamp. Studio partners UPP has worked with include Disney, Lucasfilm, Fox, Netflix, Legendary, Amazon, Sony, Columbia, MGM, Warner Bros., HBO, Paramount, Lionsgate and IFC.

CAST BIOS

CARLY POPE (Carly) stars in Neill Blomkamp’s (District 9, Elysium) Demonic, releasing on IFC and in theaters August 20th. She will next be seen in Amblin’s Easter Sunday. Carly was recently seen recurring on "The Good Doctor”, “The First Wives Club”, “Suits” and ``Arrow''. She also starred opposite Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb in The Lost Husband and in the Indie film The Last Lonely Place opposite Rhys Coiro and Xander Berkley. Carly is best known for her role as ’Sam McPherson’ in Ryan Murphy’s hit TV series “Popular”. Carly currently resides in Los Angeles.