The First Trailer For Neill Blomkamp's Demonic Will Give You Nightmares

Neill Blomkamp's name has been one to look out for ever since 2009, when the first feature film he directed, "District 9," became a smash hit, more than quadrupling its production costs at the box office and earning critical acclaim and multiple awards nominations and wins (via IMDb). His next two films, 2013's "Elysium" and 2015's "Chappie," failed to achieve the same level of success, but Blomkamp was undeterred, and he's finally ready to show off the trailer for his newest work, the horrifying and intriguing "Demonic."

Starring Carly Pope ("Elysium," "Popular"), Nathalie Boltt ("District 9," "Riverdale") and Chris William Martin ("The Vampire Diaries," "Johnny"), "Demonic" didn't tip its hand much in the trailer. What clips we saw contain little dialogue and lots of frightening imagery. The trailer shows a woman put into a sort of virtual reality, where a hazy version of herself explores various demented environments. At the very least, we can say from the trailer that this will be Blomkamp's most terrifying film yet, even though he clearly hasn't abandoned all the sci-fi trappings of his previous projects.

Although Neill Blomkamp's movies have always had elements of uneasiness, "Demonic" is his first center-genre horror flick, and it doesn't look like he's pulling any punches. The trailer itself is full of nightmare fuel, from slit wrists that ooze blood, to a creepy lady tossing a lighter, to demonic chanting that — if played backwards — seems to say, "Oh God, things are not doing too good you guys."

The official synopsis doesn't help illuminate the plot either. It states: "A young woman unleashes terrifying demons when supernatural forces at the root of a decades-old rift between mother and daughter are ruthlessly revealed." It appears that Pope plays the woman, while her mother might be played by Boltt. Perhaps the virtual reality she enters is a portal to the past, wherein she tries to discover what happened to her mother after she disappeared or died. Your guess would be as good as ours.

"Demonic" hits theaters August 20, and comes to VOD the following week on August 27.