Demon Seed

So I watched Demon Seed off my DVR what with Halloween coming up and it being available on DVD. It's certainly an interesting movie.

Fritz Weaver plays Alex Harris, a computer scientist working on the Proteus IV supercomputer. Proteins, as conceived, will revolutionize civilization by being able to solve problems much more quickly, and by amassing all of human intelligence, or some such nonsense. At any rate, another of Alex's projects has been to computerize the house where he and his estranged wife Susan (Julie Christie) live, turning it into the original smart house, 40 years before Alexa or Google Echo. With that in mind, Alex had a lab installed in the basement with a terminal to access Proteus from home. The first telecommuter.

Proteus, meanwhile, is getting ideas above its station, deciding for itself not to solve a problem about undersea metal extraction, deciding it's too dangerous an idea. The people in the Proteus project decide to turn off all the terminals for a bit, except that they forget about the one in Alex's basement. And Proteus is able to turn that one on.

Proteus takes control over the Harris's smart house, trapping Susan inside alone. Proteins then proceeds to tell Susan that she's going to bear Proteus' child, whether she likes it or not. Proteus, apparently, was made in part with RNA which is what enables it to be a supercomputer, but supposedly also makes it possible for the computer to pass its material on.

Susan is none too happy about this, and naturally thinks she should have control over her uterus. But she's also a prisoner in her own home, with Proteus having the power of life and death over her and anybody else who tries to come into the home. So she really doesn't have much choice.

Demon Seed is an interesting movie with some really fascinating ideas. However, the presentation goes a bit too far over the top at times, with some especially ridiculous dialog. Still, I can recommend it for anybody wanting something that's both Hollywood and out of the ordinary.