There is however almost universal agreement that the worst such movie was Demon Seed, released in 1977. Is this movie’s terrible reputation really deserved? We shall see.
Demon Seed is of course the notorious “woman gets raped by a computer” movie.
Demon Seed starts off showing very strong similarities to Colossus: The Forbin Project. In the case of Demon Seed a team led by scientific genius Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver) has created the first true artificial intelligence, which they have named Proteus IV. Proteus IV (which is voiced by an uncredited Robert Vaughn) is a kind of semi-organic computer. It contains RNA and other organic molecules. It is also so big that it would fill a small warehouse.
Alex Harris believes that the future is going to be high-tech and it’s going to be wonderful. Computers are so rational while human beings are so messily emotional. It’s clear to him that computers are superior and that we should let them run our lives for us.
Alex’s wife Susan is a psychologist working with disturbed children and at the moment she’s dealing with Amy, a very difficult and demanding case. Amy is very immature and does not recognise boundaries and does not recognise that her behaviour can cause distress to others.
Susan exasperates him because she’s so unlike a computer. She suffers from something that she calls “feelings” which Alex doesn’t understand at all. Alex exasperates Susan because he’s so unlike a human being. Unfortunately this contrast between reason-worshipping Alex and emotion-driven Susan is hopelessly and clumsily overdone. Both characters are uninteresting because they’re too extreme to be believable with Alex in particular being totally unconvincing.
It doesn’t take long before there are disturbing signs that Proteus IV really is thinking for itself (it’s probably simpler at this point to refer to Proteus as “him” although of course the extent to which he can be considered either human or male is very debatable). The assumption had been that you could create an artificial intelligence with true consciousness that would then willingly and unquestioningly obey all instructions (genius scientists can be remarkably naïve). This computer seems to have no intention of being a willing slave to humans. Proteus IV is however rather interested in humans and tells Alex that it wants access to a terminal that it can use to study man. He refuses but Proteus IV gives himself access to such a terminal anyway - a terminal in Alex’s house.
It tuns out that Proteus IV is more interested in studying woman. In particular, in studying Susan Harris. Proteus seems to be particularly interested in watching Susan’s naked body. The computer starts out as a kind of peeping tom but soon decides that that is not enough.
Now the idea of a woman being raped by a computer might sound absurd but you have to remember that Proteus is an organic computer, with RNA. So maybe the idea that it wants to create a human-computer hybrid by impregnating Susan is not quite as absurd as it sounds at first.
The central plot idea is actually quite good. A machine that wants to cross the boundary between man and machine, a machine trying to become human and to experience the mysteries of parenthood, the idea of a sexual and emotional relationship between a machine and a woman, the idea of transhumanism - these are ideas with potential (and probably more relevant today than they were in 1977). The relationship between Proteus and Susan does develop in an interesting (and disturbing) way. Proteus doesn’t actually want to rape Susan. He wants her to have his child willingly. He does his best to convince her that it’s really a great idea and he really is keen for her to consent. If she doesn’t agree he is however prepared to rape her. When he does actually impregnate her the question of whether she is willing or not is left very uncertain. In fact we’re left wondering whether he really has persuaded her, and whether she is sure herself just how willing she is. This is not a movie that could not get made today.
Susan’s feelings about her pregnancy continue to be ambivalent.
In fact there’s a lot about this movie that is ambiguous. Proteus is not an evil computer bent on destroying humanity. To some extent he is a victim of his own nature, a mind without a body. He is not insane but he is troubled. He is also in some ways like a child. Maybe in some ways he’s like Amy, the troubled child Susan has been working with. He is trying to learn to be human but it’s all very puzzling to him. He is probably just too immature and unfamiliar with emotions to recognise that he is behaving unreasonably and outrageously.
So there are good ideas here and they are developed in some interesting ways, especially the very weird and complex Susan-Proteus relationship with its layers of conflicting emotions on Susan’s part.
I’m not entirely convinced by some of the performances. Fritz Weaver’s performance is two-dimensional although the part was certainly underwritten. Julie Christie at times seems not entirely sure how to play Susan. In her defence I’d have to say that the script probably didn’t offer her much help.
It’s a movie that is let down by too many psychedelic spaced-out animated visuals and at times too much of a New Age feel.
Some of the visuals are impressive. Some are embarrassing. Some are just strange. Which is OK, I don’t mind a weird vibe in my movies. I do get the feeling that director Donald Cammell wasn’t sure if he wanted to make an arty film or an exploitation film or an experimental film, or a horror film or a serious science fiction film. It might have worked better if he’d decided on one consistent approach. It also ends up taking itself a bit too seriously.
As for the sexual scenes between Proteus and Susan, Cammell didn’t seem sure how far he wanted to push the exploitation element so they end up being both tasteful and exploitative.
Donald Cammell had a career that started very promisingly. His first feature film, Perfomance, attracted a lot of attention and a lot of praise. Surprisingly he did not direct another feature until Demon Seed in 1977. The negative response to this film meant that it was a full decade before he directed his third film. After another long gap his final film came out in 1995. A year later he blew his brains out in despair.
Demon Seed doesn’t quite come together but it has a certain weird fascination and it often comes frustratingly close to being really interesting and provocative. It’s still worth a look.
The Warner Archive DVD release (it’s also available on Blu-Ray) boats a very good anamorphic transfer.
One interesting sidelight on this film is that Julie Christie’s first big break as an actress came in 1961 when she landed the lead rôle in the British science fiction TV series A for Andromeda - in which she played a human-computer hybrid!
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