Not long ago, the South African director Neill Blomkamp took to Twitter to inform us that the screenplay of the sequel to the much-awaited sci-fi film ‘District 9’ (titled ‘District 10’) was being written by him along with Sharlto Copley and Teri Tatchell. However, there has been no further news from him since then.
Latterly, IFC Midnight has informed that it is acquiring the U.S. rights to Neill Blomkamp’s upcoming film ‘Demonic’, which is supposed to be Blomkamp’s first tryst with the supernatural-horror genre and will hopefully reanimate Hollywood horror with Blomkamp’s exemplary vision and unique perspective.
It was recently reported by Deadline that Blomkamp had secretly shot ‘Demonic’ in Canada during the COVID-19 lockdown period after the filmmaker’s upcoming sci-fi thriller ‘Inferno’ was indefinitely held back after the pandemic shutdown. A seemingly hopeless situation turned out to be a blessing in disguise for horror aficionados because a filmmaker of Blomkamp’s caliber was consequently made to plunge into the tricky horror enclave.
As per the official synopsis, ‘Demonic’ follows a young woman, who unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades-old rift between mother and daughter are ruthlessly revealed.
After a series of well-made shorts, ‘Demonic’ would be Neill Blomkamp’s fourth full-length feature film after he made his debut with the overwhelmingly impressive sci-fi flick ‘District 9’ featuring the dynamic ‘The A-Team’ actor Sharlto Copley. ‘District 9’ was a ground-breaking dystopian sci-fi movie, which made both Blomkamp and Copley overnight stars.
Subsequently, Blomkamp helmed two more films: Matt Damon’s futuristic sci-fi actioner ‘Elysium’ (2013) and then ‘Chappie’ (2015), which had an ensemble cast including Sharlto Copley again, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, and Dev Patel. ‘Elysium’ was called by many as the rehashed version of and loosely based on the 1986 hit film ‘Short Circuit’.
It remains to be seen whether Blomkamp’s fresh directorial attempt will be as successful and as critically acclaimed as his debut film ‘District 9’. We are keeping our fingers crossed.