9 Horror Movies That Were Ahead Of Their Time

As years go by and artificial intelligence looms larger on the collective horizon, it stands to reason that our fiction is increasingly preoccupied with machines gone mad. To this end, Donald Cammell’s 1977 sci-fi horror had a jump on what we’d come to fear in the future.

Demon Seed is a bizarre picture that takes 2001’s HAL and runs wild with it. While Kubrick’s computer was a malfunctioning menace, this one has a true mind of its own. The film stars Julie Christie as Susan, whose husband has developed a ludicrously intelligent computer.

Proteus, the mechanical marvel, soon builds its own network of robot helpers, eventually trapping Susan with the intention of artificially inseminating her. This notion of robots reproducing - here both mechanically and biologically - taps into the idea of the singularity, a notion conceived in 1965 but discussed far more frequently today.

Demon Seed is no masterpiece, but boasts a genuinely great actress in the lead role as well as a delightfully bonkers - and well presented - ending.