Written by Robert Scucci | Published
If you are in the randomly selected death lotteries, then The circle just your movie. This intense psychological horror thriller will make you question your morals and sense of humanity, and for that reason it became an instant cult hit when it was released in 2015. But like many movies that get the video-demand treatment before fading into obscurity in the streaming market, The circle it was sadly neglected, and that's why we're here to talk about it.
Elimination of Sudden Death
The circle it takes place in a single room, and has over 50 unknown characters. In fact, a quick look at the film's Wikipedia page will show you that there are no blue links to the character names, and most of the characters don't even get proper noun treatment.
Usually this doesn't go well with the movie, because more often than not, you need some star power to sell the movie. But in the case of this horror tale, the artistic choice to keep the audience from getting too attached to the characters makes sense because so many die.
Inspired by 12 Angry Men, The circle It has a simple, but dangerous structure. 50 strangers wake up in a mysterious room, standing in two rows of circles. It didn't take long to find out that someone would be killed every two minutes, his body removed from the room. Worse, if anyone tries to escape, they will also be killed, and the clock is always ticking.
The Monster Within Us All
What does The circle most effective in its narrative is that there is no visible antagonist or monster. But when we find out that the surviving participants can actually vote who meets their death next, we find out that there is a monster inside each person who faces this test.
This monster comes in the form of gauging who is most unfit to survive based on race, age, pre-existing diseases, and other factors, and it doesn't take long for the group to split into blokes who disagree about how to get out of this torturous situation.
The circle the storytelling showcases some of the most difficult psychological experiments to watch play out, but will keep you engaged throughout its solid, 87-minute run time. And what makes the whole nightmare situation more real for the viewers is the fact that the victims in this experiment are not bad people, but they have the power to make difficult decisions about other people's lives while in a critical situation.
But still, we watch with sympathy and horror as they not only try to figure out how to buy time to prevent their fellow captors from being systematically executed, but also try to save themselves.
The Circle Has Officially Fallen Through the Cracks
Another difficulty arose during production The circle. Filming a movie with a small group of actors in every setting is one thing, but it requires all 50 members to be available every day to shoot a small set that is made for an intense filming experience.
Michael Nardelli, the film's star and producer suggested that the mental overload faced during filming made it difficult for the actors to wind down after a long day of shooting.
Despite the soft release, The circle fared very well with a 57 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics have compared the film's thematic aspects to it Twilight Location with its full moral upheaval, and recent reviews suggest that some themes are relevant to 2021. Squid game about its “kill-or-be-killed” plot.
The circle it was shot entirely over the course of two weeks, and this kind of haste only adds to the suspense. You'll find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat wondering who will be around to meet their fate, and wondering what kind of evil forces orchestrated the entire experiment in the first place.
In The circle no one is safe, and this kind of storytelling makes for an inherently compelling drama. You'd think a film set in one room would drag, but directors Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione knew the job. The movements are so deliberate, and the life or death decisions are made at such an alarming speed, that you can't help but go inside.
As of this writing, it's the only way to watch The circle with physical media purchases, few and far between. Since leaving Netflix in October, 2025, no other platform has acquired the streaming rights.
