User reviews

Amateurish but better than average teen scream with relatively few of the errors that make a lot of horror just annoying.

What it excels at is rich characters I (mostly) really want to root for and I genuinely had the impression that none of them were ever totally safe. Like a lot of horror lately it feels a bit like two movies slammed together: the archaeological horror on one side and the relationship drama on the other but it was actually rather alright with the jealous ex-bf who I can so believe could be a rapist. We use the word "creep" way too liberally but even I was thinking it here.

With a cool setting and pretty girls, it's not too much of a chore to get to the third act but it does eventually get pretty cheesy and the ending is just bonkers and not in the good way.

I will say this: with all the really dumb horror out there I would rather you saw this if you were in the mood to scrape the bottom of the barrel.

University professor Karl Markusson (Edward Baker-Duly) takes 4 archaeology students on a field trip to a remote Scottish island. On arrival at the island they discover that some of the rocks have cryptic writing on them and slowly they all start to gain an understanding of these mysterious scribblings. However, as they begin to learn more about what has happened on the island the group start to fear that they may all be in danger...

The Circle has clearly been made on a limited budget featuring a group of actors who I've never heard of (the only name I was familiar with was Ross Noble). However, low-budget doesn't necessarily have to equate to low quality or low entertainment and a film like The Circle doesn't quite fail in this respect, but it doesn't quite succeed either...

A couple of immediate problems with this film have been addressed in my review summary; the acting here is pretty poor with all 5 of the actors showing very limited range and I found myself struggling to engage with any of the characters. With the exception of Melody, I found the characters to be annoying and self-centred which resulted in me not having the vested interest in what happened to any of them.

Some of its strength lie in the fact that the film has a reasonable story attached to it and some of the night time sequences are suitably tense and there are some moments of suspense during the day time as well. Director Peter Callow does an OK job at creating a sense of isolation and given the limited resources and budget it isn't too bad overall.

If you can get past some of the annoying characters and the generally wooden acting then what you're left with is a watchable film that very much does exactly what it says on the tin.

A trite and poorly done representation of really annoying students getting what they deserved in a badly executed way.

Dull. Dull. Dull. Unlikable characters, some terrible acting. Boring story. Poor effects. Waste of time.

I honestly liked The Circle. It is a movie that came with a good script, better than your average actors, and a well crafted execution.

The story is there, with more layers than one, the characters are quite ok developed, not the greatest visual effects but they blended them nicely with the dark, and everyone involved in the making of this little horror seemed to know what they were doing. I really do hope others will learn from such small gems, because you can keep the viewer interested as long as you got a good story behind you and you know how to tell it right.

It will be one of those movies that I have to recommend, one that made the absolute best of its small budget, and surely something that I will use as a mark when comparing to other future low budget/ in the woods horrors.

Cheers!

Needs more Ross Noble. More Ross Noble is needed in this movie

Despite the small budget of the film (which is noticeable), done well! The acting is good and does not cause rejection.

I don't care what the other blistering sad people say, but I thought it to be gripping and scary with a good unexpected ending. 9/10.

Ignore every positive review about this film. Shockingly bad in every aspect. The story wasn't a bad idea and could have been interesting, had it not been for the poor characters, terrible CGI and probably the worst acting I think I've ever seen (And I watch a hell of a lot of movies). If you want to see a recent, great horror then just watch The Ritual.

There was nothing worth wild about this movie. Everyone involved should be ashamed of the wasted time, money, and resources.

There isn't anything positive to say about this monstrosity. The plot is awful, the story is dire and don't get me started on the acting and dialogue. The only reason I watched it to the end was out of pure curiosity to see if it could possibly get any worse, and it does.

More Ross Noble is needed in this movie. Needs more Ross Noble

I really did expect something a little dull, but watchable, instead it was an hour and a half of atmospheric, interesting, and pretty deep horror drama.

Quite clearly the makers didn't have the biggest budget, but they made fine use of what they had, at times it looks very impressive, with some decent special effects.

Not particularly scary, but there are a few jumps along the way, this is more about the atmosphere.

Hard to fault, 8/10.

I really wanted to like this movie and give low budget independent films a chance. It starts off well, albeit with found footage which has been done loads of times before since The Blair Witch Project (1999) but comedian Ross Noble makes this bearable, and as we get to know the characters who make their way to the Scottish island that is when the film starts to unravel.

It's a reasonable effort however the constant shuffling of the handheld camera doesn't create tension alone. It didn't hold my interest long enough to want to find out what the clues were as to what was going on. There's the usual bickering and inane dialogue that doesn't really go anywhere in an attempt to create drama which often feels like it's padding out the runtime rather than contributing to the story.

The Circle feels like an indulgent crowd funding project with some visual style but little substance. I didn't mind the low budget alien effects or the plot twist at the end but by that time my interest had almost waned completely and it didn't make me care about the characters or their situation.

I can say with all confidence that nothing really stands out about this film. I had it on as background noise while I played video games. It fulfilled that purpose admirably. Films of this nature are always pretty formulaic, and anyone who says otherwise is either a shill or hasn't watched many horror films. There weren't any scares of any note, and if you were shocked by the "twist" ending, then you've led a pretty sheltered life.

The movie was good......until the end! It absolutely made no sense! Another movie where the writers want to bend the lines to far!

Although a little slow to start and relying on more than a nod to the original Blair Witch Project this independent movie really does draw you in and probably much better than the billion dollar productions from Hollywood. The story telling is well done and the acting, criticised by some reviewers, actually carries the plot really well even though you won't realise this until the end. I'm not going to add anything other than that, no spoilers, you will have to watch it.