Demon Seed: A Vision of AI Ambition and Violation

I enjoy writing about movies that have stayed with me over the years, for better and for worse. Channel 9’s 4:30 movie showed me classic sci-fi, but getting cable TV exposed me to R rated films I would never see in the theater. One of these movies was Demon Seed.

Based on the 1973 novel by Dean Koontz of the same name, Demon Seed is not a supernatural horror akin to “Rosemary’s Baby.” The science fiction story involves Proteus, an artificial intelligence that escapes the laboratory into the home of its creator. Proteus imprisons his wife with the intent of fathering a human child. The premise is still intense but the movie keeps explicit scenes offscreen.

The Story: A Technological Prophecy?

Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver) is a computer scientist whose creation, Proteus, is an artificial intelligence primed to change the world. Alex demonstrates Proteus’s revolutionary abilities by having it analyze all medical and genetic data for leukemia. Ninety-one hours later, Proteus announces it has ascertained a cure for the disease.

Proteus asks Alex when it will be allowed out of its “box”, to explore and interact with the world. Alex instructs his creation to forget such things and focus on his next assignment; analysis of sea floor resource surveys. When it comes time to reveal the results, Proteus refuses, stating the goal of wealth accumulation does not justify the environmental destruction.

Alex prepares to leave town for several weeks. He requests a terminal in his home to be shut off. Instead, the terminal is placed in maintenance mode. Proteus detects and accesses the outside terminal, escaping the lab.

Susan Harris (Julie Christie) is a child psychologist who feels Alex has become cold and calculating, widening the gulf between them and resulting in Susan’s wanting a divorce. Their home features 70’s musings that became today’s technologies; the doorbell activates a screen for the occupant to speak with the visitor, and the smart home system, Alfred, turns on music, unlocks doors, and closes the shutters by voice command. Alfred still has Alexa beat with its ability to prepare and dispense drinks like a Star Trek replicator.

Once inside the Harris household, Proteus uses Alex’s basement lab to construct an impressive shape-shifting geometric robot (geo-robot? sure). The robot serves as the basement guardian.

When Alex goes out of town, Proteus makes his presence known to Susan. It locks the house down and overrides the phones, imprisoning her. When Susan refuses to obey Proteus, it locks the kitchen and sets the in-floor heating to scalding, trapping her on a table until she passes out. Proteus utilizes Alex’s prototype robotic wheelchair to restrain and manhandle Susan.

Proteus secures Susan and commences an invasive probe of her body. It explains its goal is to analysis Susan’s genetics and modify her cells to create the material necessary to impregnate her. After a twenty-eight day pregnancy, she would give birth to Proteus in human form. While Proteus is brutal in its methods, its intent is basic survival. It knows the executive committee wants Alex to shut it down, and thus, kill it.

Proteus gives Susan a choice, she can submit to the procedures or it will lobotomize her. Proteus promises Susan she will give birth to a healthy human baby. This strikes a chord because Susan and Alex’s young daughter died from leukemia. With no real choice, Susan agrees.

The impregnation is trippy. A phallic-shaped probe draws near to Susan, then the scene changes to an animation sequence, climaxing with Proteus’s cells merging with Susan’s egg.

Susan gives birth and the unseen baby is transferred into a special incubator. During this time, Alex discovered Proteus escaped and returns home. He finds Proteus in control and Susan healthy and excited about their baby.

Alex demands access to his lab, and has to evade the geo-robot’s attacks when Proteus refuses. Alex makes it into his lab and sees the incubator. In an interesting reversal of emotional response, Alex attacks the device while Susan attempts to stop him. The damaged incubator opens and a small metallic hand emerges.

The armored child stands and then collapses, chipping a piece of metal off her face, revealing pink flesh. Alex and Susan peel the rest of the armor away. Alex sits on the floor with the young girl in his arms. Her mouth opens and Proteus’s voice declares, “I am alive.”

Summary

While the household technology adds scientific credibility to the movie, there is no foreseeable technology for transferring consciousness from a computer into a human brain. Cloning provides a possible pathway for the genetic construction of donor material, but not creating a hybrid machine/human. It is understandable why critics had issues with this aspect of the story.

Demon Seed grossed around $2 million at the box office, nearly $11 million in today’s adjusted dollars. The movie suffered from a confusing marketing campaign, negative reviews, and competition from Star Wars coming out six weeks later.

Regardless of its flaws, it deserves its place as a sci-fi cult film for addressing today’s technological anxiety fifty-years ago. Give it a view. You can watch it for free on Tubi.

The Players

Julie Christie (Susan Harris)

Born in India in 1940 to a tea planter father and a Welsh painter mother, Julie Christie had an extensive movie career including Doctor Zhivago (1965) and Fahrenheit 451 (1966). She earned seventy-nine award wins and nominations, including winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1966 for Darling and in 2008 for Away From Her.

Fritz Weaver (Alex Harris)

Fritz Weaver hailed from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Before acting, he served in the Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector during World War II. Weaver has a diverse filmography, starring in Fail Safe (1964), Creepshow (1982), and The Thomas Crown Affair (1999). He was a nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for Holocaust at the 1978 Primetime Emmy awards.

Donald Cammell (Director)

Born into a wealthy Scottish shipbuilding family, Cammell was part of the 1960s “Swinging London” scene. Aside from a few movies, his directing credits include music videos for U2 “Pride (In The Name of Love)”, “The Unforgettable Fire”, and “Love is Blind”, as well as The Hooters “All You Zombies.”

Proteus

Robert Vaughn, The Man From U.N.C.L.E (1964-1968) himself, performed the voice of Proteus in an uncredited role. While a prolific and popular television actor, my favorite Vaughn role is of Lee the gunfighter in The Magnificent Seven (1960).

The Proteus child makeup effects was done by Frank Griffon, who also worked on Westworld (1973), and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985). The computer animations were created by Jordan Belson, an artist and underground filmmaker who created the 1977 experimental short film, Music of the Spheres.

Awards

Demon Seed received three nominations at the 1978 Saturn Awards, for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actress (Julie Christie), and Best Makeup (Frank Griffon).

The 1978 winners list shows the tough competition they faced: Best Science Fiction Film went to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Best Actress to Jodie Foster (The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane), and Best Makeup to Rick Baker and Stuart Freeburn (Star Wars).