'Demonic': IFC Midnight Will Distribute Neill Blomkamp's Supernatural Horror Movie

Neill Blomkamp, of District 9 and Chappie fame, directed a horror movie in Canada last year during the pandemic that was cloaked in mystery, but now we finally know a little bit about it. The film is called Demonic, and IFC Midnight has announced that the company has picked up the U.S. distribution rights. Learn more about the project below.

"In Demonic, a young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades old rift between mother and daughter are ruthlessly revealed in this horror-thriller from director Neill Blomkamp," a press release reads. The movie stars "up-and-comers Carly Pope (Elysium), Chris William Martin (The Age of Adaline, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, The Vampire Diaries), and Michael Rogers (Siren, The Blacklist, Supernatural). Neill Blomkamp, Mike Blomkamp of STABILITi Studios, as well as Stuart Ford and Linda McDonough of AGC Studios are on board as producers. Miguel Palos Jr., Alastair Burlingham, Charlie Dombek, Viktor Muller, and Steven St. Arnaud are serving as executive producers.

A supernatural horror story is a far cry from the types of features the director has made thus far – District 9, Elysium, and Chappie mostly focused on male protagonists and explored ideas about the fusion of humanity and technology. Blomkamp came out of the gate hot in 2009 when District 9 earned a Best Picture nomination, but his follow-up movies were not able to capture anywhere near that level of acclaim and respect from the industry or moviegoers. Chappie, which is arguably more famous for the jokes and memes it spawned than for anything it does on its own, came out in 2015, so it's been six years since Blomkamp was at the helm of a feature film. In the intervening years, he tried to get an Alien movie and a new Robocop movie off the ground, but to no avail. In between those efforts, he's been tinkering with short movies made using the Unreal Engine, and he recently announced that his long-awaited District 9 sequel is finally in the writing stage.

"IFC Midnight is an ideal brand for Neill's first foray into supernatural terror to be released theatrically and in other media and we're very confident in the job that Arianna [Bocco, IFC Films president] and her team are going to do," Ford said in a press release. IFC Midnight has previously released films like The Autopsy of Jane Doe, The Rental, Relic, and The Babadook.

IFC Midnight will release Demonic on August 20, 2021.