BLACK CIRCLE: High-Concept Horror In An Indie Vein
High-concept horror is usually the province of Hollywood: this is not because of the budget, as high-concept genre fare can be made on little money, but because it's a reliable commercial strategy for majors and mini-majors. Those outfits have the resources to create a crafty marketing campaign and a good trailer to pack 'em in at the multiplex (or at least sucker them in on Netflix or at the Redbox). Sadly, their take on high-concept horror usually has one good plot hook that gets driven into the ground.
But what about when the indie horror filmmakers get their hands on a hooky, high-concept premise? That's where things get interesting because the budget's usually small enough that they have creative room to take interesting chances with their high concept and be scary without resorting to dopey jump scare tactics.
Black Circle, a 2018 effort from prolific director Adrian Garcia Bogliano, offers an interesting example of a high concept horror that benefits from the creative freedom of a modest budget. It begins simply enough, as if it was the premise for a half-hour anthology show episode: Celeste (Felice Jankell) is called to a meeting by her sister, Isa (Erika Midfjall). Their parents died a while back and Celeste has been floundering in both life and love. Isa has recently become a success and credits her good fortune to a record she began obsessively listening to after finding it in a relative's personal effects.
Said record is a self-improvement affair and an example of "magnetism," i.e. a form of hypnosis that doesn't require a susceptible subject. Celeste tries it out of curiosity and begins having strange hallucinations involving an Invasion Of The Body Snatchers-style double. When she confronts Isa about it, we discover she has worse problems, including being followed by someone in her own car. You might think you know exactly where this is going but Black Circle takes a left turn at this point, conceptually speaking.
The sisters research the institute listed on the record's cover and this leads to a meeting with Lena (Christina Lindberg), who not only runs what is left of the institute but is a powerful telepath. She teams with the sisters in a risky bid to save them from what the record has unleashed, a plan that involves paranormally gifted romantic duo Selma (Hanna Asp) and Victor (Johan Palm), long-term Lena associate Marten (Hans Sandqvist) and an otherworldly showdown in the now-abandoned institute's building.
The resulting film evokes a lot of genre touchstones that fans of '70s/'80s horror will love - Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, scientific-minded ghost stories like The Haunting and Hell House, a very distinct influence of David Cronenberg circa The Brood and Scanners - yet it never resorts to simple imitation of those influences. Instead, it mixes them in interesting ways to come up with a fresh hybrid.
For example, the 'science vs. supernatural' angle bypasses the usual technology to go into metaphysical territory, including a 'divided self' battle of the conscious and the 'shadow' self of the subconscious that becomes a literal, physical conflict. Instead of mediums, you have the young telepath couple who play a vital role in conducting the attempt to reintegrate the divided selves of the two sisters. The initial 'hypnotic record' hook simply becomes a background detail to a more complex and interesting story.
Black Circle is also interesting in the subtlety of its technique: it avoids the loud Dolby noises and constant jump scares that define current American multiplex horror in favor of a matter-of-fact style that calmly steps into surrealism rather than putting all its weight behind ostentatious stylistic flourishes. Its quietly eerie style suits the story's gradual build nicely.
Bogliano's direction utilizes a mixture of naturalistic handheld camera techniques and wide-shot 'scope tableaus for the main storyline and makes sparing use of bloodshed and visual effects (it's interesting to note how an effective visualization of a sister and her shadow self is achieved via the use of real-life twins). When he goes for dramatic flourishes, it's done via a sudden camera move or bursts of fast-editing - and the one real jump scare here genuinely connects because he saves it for a key moment.
This approach is grounded by naturalistic performances that avoid the usual hysterics. Jankell and Midfjall connect with the audience by subtly playing their descent into fear and there's a nice surprise in how Asp and Palm's characters develop as their importance to the plot grows, with their devotion to each other becoming quietly touching.
However, the revelatory acting work comes from Lindberg. She's best known as a cult fave in '70s sexploitation, plus the grindhouse favorite They Call Her One Eye, but she returns here as an older actor playing a pivotal character role. She brings a quiet gravitas and disarming intensity to her role as a powerful telepath: the work requires to carry the entire final third of the film and she anchors it in an impressive manner.
If there are criticisms to be made of Black Circle, it might be that there is a chilly, distant tone to it that might keep some viewers from connecting in a way more emotionally driven horror fare does - but that's really a stylistic choice for the director and a matter of taste for viewers. The end result remains impressive for how it reclaims high concept horror for the indie market and does it in a thoughtful, developed way that outshines the more familiar multiplex variant.