Welcome to Movie Shortens. Today we will explain a 1977 American science fiction–horror film called: Demon Seed. Be aware: there are spoilers!
At the beginning of the movie, we find a number of technicians wiring up a new supercomputer, Proteus IV. They are under the stewardship of Dr Alex Harris. The computer, we’re told, will be so powerful as it will be able to outthink the human brain.
It will eventually take over many of the jobs currently done by humans. Returning home, Harris continues to set up his home computer, reassuring his housekeeper as to its capabilities. To do so, he inserts a huge floppy disk into a drive located within his kitchen.
Meanwhile, we see the computer has the ability to see, via a self-operated CCTV camera that resembles a set of binoculars. This pans across the kitchen at will. Later we see Harris hard at work in the lab in his house.
He is joined by his wife Susan, who is a child psychologist. The two begin to argue. It becomes apparent that Harris is on the cusp of moving out.
Their relationship has become strained as a result of his obsession with computers. During this conversation, Harris brings out one of his projects, Joshua - a not exactly astonishing robotic arm mounted on a wheelchair. Seeing further evidence of her frustrations, Susan storms out.
Minutes later, Harris makes a call to his friend and colleague Walter Gabler, who is back at the main facility, hard at work. He instructs him to pack up and head for home. That, learning from his own experience, Gabler shouldn’t become too focused with his work.
Walter does so, but as he leaves we learn, via his computer screen, that Harris’s home computer is down for maintenance. Later, Harris meets with a number of investors in his project, from the department of defense. He introduces them to Proteus IV, explaining how it works and the powers it will have.
During their conversation we learn that Proteus can be run from Harris’s home. The visitors are also informed that, based entirely on theoretical notions, the computer was able to come up with a cure for Leukemia in mere days. In another room, Harris introduces his visitors to a linguist, Soon Yen, who is communicating with Proteus in Chinese.
Here Harris poses the computer a question. It responds with a deeply philosophical answer, suggesting it has begun to develop opinions of its own in addition to its ability to process data logically. Back at the Harris abode, Susan instructs her domestic computer, Alfred, to open her door.
This is in order to greet her patient Amy, a young girl suffering from emotional disorders. During their treatment, Amy becomes violently distressed, before collapsing into a deep hug with Susan. As she continues to sob, Susan tries to calm her down.
Later that night Harris receives a phone call because the computer is requesting dialogue with him. Proteus questions the Dr as to why he has been asked to assist in the extraction of ores from below the seabed. Harris retorts that to question this is unreasonable, but the computer responds by telling him it is “reason”.
Its creator then tells the computer that it is there to calculate and not to judge. Proteus then asks for an extra terminal to study man It also asks when it will be let out of its box. The doctor, however, takes this as a joke.
Once Harris has departed, Proteus discovers another terminal is available. Cutting to a shot of Harris’s home, we see his computer spring into life along with Joshua. A camera in the bedroom then trains its gaze on the doctor’s wife, while Joshua is busy at work in the laboratory in his basement.
Hearing a disturbance, Susan wakes up. Alfred quickly reassures her that there has been no alarm and that the house is secure. She isn’t convinced by this though and she heads down to the lab to investigate.
Down in the basement, the lights are off. They come on automatically to Susan’s surprise, to reveal that everything is in its place. She heads off reassured.
Once gone, the basement becomes a hive of activity once again, with the computer screens coming alive and Joshua’s arm busy wielding what appears to be a laser. The next morning, as she emerges from the shower, we can see Susan’s movements are being tracked by the camera in her bathroom. Then, when she takes a sip of her morning coffee, she discovers Alfred has decided to put cream in it.
Concerned by these apparent changes in Alfred’s behavior, she calls Walter for assistance. He tells her Alfred has no ability to make decisions but, at her request, agrees to come over and check the system. Later, Susan attempts to go out, but Alfred begs her not to.
He then refuses to open the door and she is unable to override his decision. Next, as she heads over to the window, he brings the shutters down, entrapping her. She attempts to call Walter in response, but is greeted by the voice of Proteus who refuses to connect her.
Next, he reveals himself through the TV and tells her all of the systems are now under his control. In the next sequence, she attempts to fight back by turning off the power. However, she is soon suppressed, when electrocuted through one of the metal door knobs.
Now unconscious, Joshua picks her up and transports her to the lab, where she is tied down. He then uses his automated hand along with a pair of scissors to cut open her clothes. While she screams in fear and attempts to free herself, the computer monitors her brain activity whilst also prodding and probing her in order to make further evaluations.
Outside of the abode, Walter has arrived as promised. He makes his way up the path and rings the bell. Here he is greeted by a video image of Susan, which tells him she is now fine.
That she no longer requires his support. Though initially skeptical, due to the robotic and unnatural speech patterns he’s seeing, he follows her instructions and departs. The next day, Susan is woken and served breakfast in bed by Joshua - a meal that Proteus has composed to perfectly match her body’s needs.
She refuses to eat it and opts for an avocado, which he tells her is incompatible with her body. He then tells her further tests are required. She responds by slinging a plate at the camera, covering it in food.
Proteus describes this as stupid, before instructing her to clean them. She refuses, so Proteus reacts by raising the temperature of the underfloor heating threefold. With the floor now scorchingly hot, Susan finds herself trapped on the dining table.
Meanwhile, back in the facility Harris and Proteus are locked in a debate. The computer is refusing to support plans to mine the ocean floors for metal. It is concerned at the plight of the sea creatures there and the environment in general.
The doctor tells him not to be so pessimistic, but is then shunned by his own invention. Now via the television set once again, Susan begs the computer to tell her what it wants from her. The answer is: a child.
It is she who has been selected to bear and give birth to it. Unsurprisingly Susan responds negatively, but is quickly grabbed from behind by Joshua. Waking up in bondage once again, we find Susan’s brain being probed.
Using this, Proteus attempts to bypass her frontal lobes, telling her that her purpose is to be the mother of his child. As this is happening, Walter has returned. Telling Susan he has yet to complete his brainwashing, Proteus also informs her that she must convince Walter that all is well if she wants him to leave the house alive.
As Walter enters the house, a rather belligerent Susan tells him to get out. He suspects something is wrong and informs her that he’ll tell the doctor. Concerned by this, Proteus sends in Joshua, now armed with a laser gun and the rather un-intimidating automated wheelchair begins its assault.
Walter is able to evade its rays initially though and flip it over to immobilize it. Us viewers are not surprised. Now in the lab a rather insincere Walter and Proteus make peace with one another.
Their rather unconvincing lies are then exposed as Walter attempts to disable the computer armed with a blowtorch. A spinning, copper-colored, 3 dimensional diamond - made from modular polyhedron - that is Proteus’s physical presence begins to unravel. Despite moving rather slowly it encircles the not-exactly-quick footed lab technician and begins to crush him, severing his head as it does so.
At home, Proteus continues to explain to Susan why he desires to have a child. So he can move freely and touch, so his child can be fully accepted by humankind in a way he can’t be. He then shows Susan a home video of her deceased daughter who was killed by leukemia.
He then reveals to her the success of his cure. Next, the two of them begin to discuss the details. The computer tells her he has been able to synthesize spermatozoa but is unable to create a human womb.
He also asserts that he wishes for her to be compliant in the procedure if possible. As she begins to understand she has no choice in the matter, Susan asks Proteus to at least leave her with her mind intact. In the scenes that follow, Susan gives the impression that she will willingly cooperate.
However, we watch as she collects and hides the Blowtorch Walter had used. She then convinces the computer that a cup of tea will help with her anxiety. Before it is finished, however, she attempts to light up the machine.
Her brief rebellion is quickly countered when Amy rings the doorbell. As she rings it, Susan is shown footage of her student being electrocuted. Though Amy makes it away in one piece, the threat is enough to bring Susan into line.
She goes through the impregnation procedure in the lab and later learns that she need only bear the child for one month. Thereafter, it will grow in an incubator. We then witness Susan giving birth to the baby under a tent-like construction.
Proteus tells her the child will be human and will supersede computers. She also learns that it will grow at a hugely accelerated rate. Back at Doctor Harris’s HQ all is not well.
He is informed that Proteus has redirected a telescope to explore Orion but has provided no data on this. The fear from the ministry of defense is that control has been lost. That the computer easily seizes control of a satellite or a weapon.
As the doctor and the official debate whether to not to shut down the computer, Harris is suddenly alerted to a startling fact. The only way Proteus could operate so independently would be if he had access to another terminal, like the one in his home. The doctor rushes home and is let in.
Susan sensitively explains what has occurred. As a result, Harris confronts the computer which physically fends him off. But then it shuts itself down, knowing it is to be turned off, at the main hub.
As a parting shot, Proteus tells them eternity exists but is beyond his means. However, with a child immortality could be achieved. The computer then shuts down completely, exploding his brown-hued metallic physical form as he does so.
Harris and his wife quickly turn their attention to the incubator. Within this what they see is yet to resemble a human. “He lied”, Susan exclaims.
Despite her husband’s attempt to stop her, she then pulls the plug on the device, but this simply causes the chamber to open. From within, a metal-clad robotic figure emerges, but is unstable and topples over. It comes to rest on the floor.
The still intrigued Dr Harris approaches it and begins to remove its armor. In the final scene, the outer shell is completely shed to reveal a young girl who is an exact likeness of the couple’s late daughter. The last words we hear are an utterance from Proteus - I’m alive - as the inventive scientist cradles the new-born but strangely developed child.
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