Last night I watched the 1977 film DEMON SEED, which is new to DVD this week. It was based on Dean Koontz’s novel, which turns out to be far superior.
I read DEMON SEED recently when I wanted a down-and-dirty quick read before diving into the brick otherwise known as THE HISTORIAN. It totally fit the bill. Written in 1973 (and revised in 1997), it’s about a woman trapped in her house by a computer that wants to rape her. No, really! She’s no longer living with her husband. a super scientist who previously equipped their whole house with artificial intelligence; everything is run by a thinking, talking computer.
But there’s a quirk in the system, which then traps the woman in her home, all alone, with no communicative ties to the outside world. The computer makes no attempt to hide his desire to impregnate her so that she can bear a child for him to take over the world. Talk about living vicariously through your children! This computer makes HAL look like a friggin’ LeapPad.
Uniquely told from the computer’s point of view, DEMON SEED is more satirical than scary. Probably even more resonant today than ever before, it’s a good sci-fi/horror suspense story and fast fast fast, readable from start to finish in about two hours.
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