Why Demonic Proves That Neil Blomkamp Should Never Have Directed Alien

Demonic, the new supernatural horror film from director Neill Blomkamp, has proven his detractors right who argued the young director shouldn't have been at the helm of an Alien movie. The Alien franchise, which most recently saw Ridley Scott take another swing at the xenomorphs with 2017's Alien: Covenant, has been a tricky field to navigate after the massive success of the franchise's first two films by Scott and James Cameron. In 2015, rumors circulated that Blomkamp was going to make a direct sequel to Aliens, bringing back Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn as well as an adult Newt, but 20th Century Fox never moved forward with the project. While promoting Demonic, Blomkamp recently joked, "It’s possible that Ridley watched Chappie and he was like, this guy can’t do Alien so let’s just go ahead and move on."

Blomkamp has had one of the more curious careers in Hollywood, and Demonic continues the bizarre trend. Starting in 2009, Blomkamp exploded onto the scene with his sleeper hit District 9, which currently sits at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and raked in $210.8 million at the box office. With the momentum of District 9 behind him, Blomkamp was able to scoop up A-lister Matt Damon for his original sci-fi story, Elysium, which was a step down from District 9 with critics (65%) and even more divisive among viewers with a 58% audience score. The aforementioned Chappie continued the downward spiral (32% critics, 56% audience), and Blomkamp hoped to right the ship with Demonic, a story about a young woman releasing supernatural terror due to old family secrets.

Related: Neill Blomkamp Interview: Demonic

It's safe to say that didn't happen. Demonic represents another major step back for Blomkamp, which currently holds a putrid 9% audience score after cautiously optimistic expectations from many viewers. The problems with Demonic further highlight why the 41-year-old South African native was always the wrong choice for Alien 5. Scott and Cameron proved there are multiple ways to succeed within the Alien franchise whether through sci-fi claustrophobic horror (Alien), or guns-blazing action-horror (Aliens). But there's a throughline that connects the movies, and Blomkamp has proven with Demonic that he's incapable of creating or maintaining a believable world around the characters.

IndieWire notes that "The deeper that Blomkamp digs into his pixel-thin premise, the more glaring it becomes that Demonic lacks the genre fundamentals required to support any sort of broader mythology." RogerEbert.com is even more severe, claiming that Blomkamp's Demonic "feels like a film made by someone who's scared of his own ideas and his own limitations." Even worse for Blomkamp is that the movie's pace is universally panned, with no sign of interesting characters or legitimate scares anywhere. Scott proved in the original Alien that a slow burn can work phenomenally when done correctly, but Blomkamp's inability to create interest through Demonic's build-up is a deal-breaker.

For Blomkamp, Demonic presented a vehicle for the director to right the ship, fulfill the promise he flashed over a decade ago, and possibly even start a new franchise. Instead, he continued to fuel his critics and proved undoubtedly he was always the wrong choice for a property as revered as Alien.

Next: What Neill Blomkamp’s Short Film Zygote Says About His Canceled Alien 5

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