Demonic is a 2021 supernatural horror film written, co-produced and directed by Neill Blomkamp. The film stars Carly Pope, Chris William Martin, Michael J. Rogers, Nathalie Boltt, Terry Chen and Kandyse McClure. Filmed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it was released on August 20, 2021, receiving generally negative reviews from critics.
Carly (Carly Pope) is a young woman who has fallen out of contact with her mother Angela (Nathalie Boltt). Angela is convicted of killing over 21 people in a killing spree where she burned down a care home she worked and poisoned a church. Nobody has any idea why Angela went on a rampage and Carly has not seen her in years. Carly is supported by her best friend Sam (Kandyse McClure). The pair cut off their other childhood friend Martin (Chris William Martin) after he began to make strange theories about Angela. Carly is plagued by nightmares about Angela. One day, Carly receives a text from Martin who wants to meet up and talk. Upon meeting, Martin tells Carly that he was invited to be part of a focus group test for a company called Therapol which involved real medical patients, one of which was a comatose Angela. Carly is stunned by this revelation and is later contacted by Therapol, who asks her to visit their facility to discuss Angela.
She meets scientists Daniel (Terry Chen) and Michael (Michael J. Rogers) who explain Angela fell into a coma following a series of violent episodes in prison and is “locked-in” inside her body. They tell Carly that Angela is highly active inside a simulation, calling for Carly and Martin. They ask Carly if she is willing to enter Angela’s mind to talk to her, which she reluctantly agrees to do so. In the simulation, Carly enters a copy of her childhood home and angrily confronts Angela about her crimes. Angela, fully able to speak in the simulation, demands that Carly leaves. Carly returns home, that night she has a nightmare where she finds a strange symbol made of a raven carcass.
Carly arrives at Therapol for another trip inside the simulation. This time she enters through a new tunnel into a field outside an old sanatorium which Angela had worked at. She meets with Angela who claims that she was not the person who called for Carly and Martin. Angela’s body in the simulation starts to glitch out and the scientists ignore a terrified Carly’s demands to be removed from the simulation. Entering the sanatorium, she finds Sam’s body before being attacked by an Avian like Demon who slashes its arm open, creating the same cut on Carly’s real-life body. Carly exits the simulation and tells Daniel and Michael how years ago, she and Martin found Angela in the sanatorium with the same cut on her arm. Carly refuses to participate in another simulation and leaves Therapol.