Circle (2015)
October 4, 2018 11:16 AM - Subscribe

Could you trust a jury of your peers with your life? The contestants of a mysterious death game must make harrowing decisions as they strategize for survival in this psychological sci-fi thriller.

My Favorite Horror review: Circle is more of sci-fi mystery movie. It is one of those movie where group of strangers locked in a room and trying to figure out what is going on. There are many movies like this, such as Cube trilogy, Breathing Room, Exam, Killing Room, and Fermat’s Room. This type of movies usually are driven by the mystery of the situation and surprise ending that follows it.

Cinema Jam Review: At first glance, Circle doesn’t seem to have much going for it. It’s cheap, it’s got cheesy, straightforward dialogue, and its concept points to pretty flat genre fare. Set almost entirely in one room, as a circle of people votes on who to kill off one-by-one until there’s only one left standing, it seems like the kind of glorified game show you’d see in the recesses of a bargain bin or deep in that part of Netflix. But Circle is so much more than its simplistic surface. Ruthless, revelatory and massively relevant, it takes modern identity politics full circle, surprising us with some clever sci-fi twists along the way.

Kat the Movies Review: This movie works best if you recognize that this movie is not “real” people but rather stereotypes.

(This film not to be confused with The Circle, starring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson.)
posted by knownassociate (5 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Movies like Circle are why I wish we had a horror/scifi anthology like (original) The Twilight Zone. Because this movie has a great story, but it's not enough for a full length movie. It would be a really good 40 minute TV episode.
posted by riruro at 5:38 PM on October 4, 2018


riruro that's just what I was thinking of Cube which I just saw tonight.

IIRC, Circle had a little bit of the Crash style shit where a movie or TV show will try to shame the viewer for believing a stereotype but then be like, "Oh the stereotype was actually true hue hue," which is so tiresome. I suppose that is unavoidable in anything that is trying to pack in so many reveals and reversals.

All in all I think the movie did okay, though, worth watching it if the phrase "it takes modern identity politics full circle" from the review above doesn't make you roll your eyes to death.
posted by fleacircus at 12:48 AM on October 5, 2018


Encouraged to hear good things about this, as I just put it in my Netflix queue.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 9:17 AM on October 5, 2018


All the supposed societal allegory aside, is this a movie where I'm expected to sit through scene after scene of brutality and bloodshed?
posted by Thorzdad at 9:06 AM on October 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


Unless I'm completely forgetting something... If this movie were rated, it would be PG-13.

When the circle kills someone on screen it looks like a $2.99 lightning bolt, and they collapse on the ground. There is no "hey, look at THIS cool murder" type of element.
posted by fleacircus at 10:05 AM on October 8, 2018 [4 favorites]


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