Black Circle Blu-ray Review

Sisters Celeste and Isa fall under the spell of a mysterious vinyl record from the 1970s. The recording is meant to ease stress and bring the listener to a calm state of hypnosis called magnetism. When the ladies suffer unforeseen side effects, they consult the woman who made the recording, hypnotist Lena Carlsson, who warns them of the sinister manifestation of a doppelgänger of whoever plays the record. Can the sisters escape their fate of being replaced by ethereal doubles or will they be lost forever?

Black Circle is the latest film written and directed by Adrian Garcia Bogliano (Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf, Here Comes the Devil), and he continues to impress as a unique genre talent. This picture contains haunting imagery but is more a psychedelic psychological thriller with big ideas and a supernatural twist. The script takes inspiration in part from the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers and pursues the ideas of an uncertain reality and the plains of existence.

Felice Jankell and Erica Midfjäll play Celeste and Isa respectively, and both are instantly likeable and convincing in this increasingly twisted narrative. Celeste is more adrift and less organized than her estranged sister, who has apparently turned her life around in a very short time frame. Jankell does most of the heavy lifting, as it is through her we witness the bizarre visions and mystery. Christina Lindberg (Thriller: A Cruel Picture) is fantastic as Lena Carlsson, the woman who made the original recording for the Stockholm Institute for Magnetic Research. She is an unflappable authority figure driven to correct her past mistakes by locating and destroying all copies of her research.

Based on his short film Don’t Open Your Eyes (aka Öppna inte ögonen), Bogliano’s Black Circle is a compelling tale of hypnosis and psychological experimentation that continues to ratchet up the tension as the mystery deepens. The feature has a distinct visual style by cinematographer Dario Goldgel (Scherzo Diabolico), rich with atmosphere, and Rickard Gramfor’s haunting score complements the unsettling sound design by Lex Ortega (Satanic Hispanics).

Black Circle is a great representation of contemporary Swedish horror in the hands of a confident director/storyteller. The presence of Lindberg as the authority figure lends the film more than added marquee value, as her character is central to the carefully unfolding mystery. The film moves at a deliberate pace, slowly wrapping viewers into its creepy web, building to a satisfying conclusion.