An interesting movie and Pinhead are in today’s reviews.
Circle (2015)
This is the last of the 41st Annual Seattle International Film Festival that I was able to see. The regular showings were in high demand, so I was happy to see a press screening before the festival ended.
Circle is a sci-fi thriller mostly, but there are bits of horror and social commentary in the movie as well. The movie starts pretty much as you see in the trailer above. There’s a circle in which 50 people stand. White, black, Asian, old, young and middle aged. A few people wake up to the rest of them standing, seemingly unconscious. Then all at once they all wake up. It’s chaos for awhile until the Circle starts to see what is happening to them. Every 2 minutes or so, an alarm goes off and one of them is killed. Once they figure out that everyone is the circle is controlling who to kill, the movie gets that much more interesting. Don’t worry, it’s not a spoiler per se, they figure it out in the first 10 minutes and that’s what makes this movie interesting. Will people choose based on age, color of skin, whether they have children or if they’re a good or bad person? Why are they in this circle? What’s behind all of this? You’ll have to see Circle to see what happens.
You leave the movie feeling challenged and possibly thinking about what you’d do in that situation. One of the only recognizable actors in the movie is Julie Benz, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dexter and Defiance fame, but it really doesn’t matter if you were to recognize anyone and I think that’s to make you feel immersed into Circle. When Matt picked me up after the film, he wanted a description of it. It was pretty hard to come up with a definitive one. I enjoyed the film, but there were parts that were so true about the characters choices, it was hard to get past the predicament if this actually did happen. Matt was under the impression it was a torture-porn film like Saw. It’s not, it’s intelligent, and there’s actually no blood in the film whatsoever. I’m not sure I would’ve been happy to pay $13 to see it, but it’s definitely something you should rent when it comes out. It’s got over an 8 on IMDB for a rating, and I agree with that after thinking about the movie. It’s not a movie you’ll want to buy and watch over and over again, not because of the violence, but it’s kind of a one-off movie. Once you see it, you “get it” and that’s all you need.
Circle (2015)
Dirs: Aaron Hann, Mario Miscione
IMDB page
SIFF page
The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker
Clive Barker adds to his “Hellraiser” mythos with The Scarlet Gospels, his latest novel. It’s part sequel, part reboot to another of his characters Harry D’Amour, seen mostly in the Hellraiser comics from BOOM! Studios from 2011, or played by Scott Bakula from the 1995 film, Lord of Illusions.
The Scarlet Gospels is mostly about Harry D’Amour coming into contact with “Pinhead” or as he’d prefer to be known, the Hell Priest. I’ve not read the comics, but the fact that Harry knows that “Pinhead” is a derogatory name to call the Hell Priest/Cenobite leader, makes me think that Barker is using the comics as a bit of canon. While the book is split in two at the beginning, the story comes together later on through a Hell bound rescue mission. The Hell Priest is determined to take over Hell, and Harry is on a mission from one of Norma’s ghost clients to stop information to be revealed in New Orleans.
I’ve been a Clive Barker fan for decades. After picking up The Scarlet Gospels, I realized that even though I consider myself a fan, I haven’t read very many of his books. My first was Cabal (aka the Nightbreed movie) from 1988, and the most recent Mister B. Gone from 2011, but I guess I’m a fan of the horror movies based on The Books of Blood, the Hellraiser stories. I’m determined to right that wrong this summer.
Even if you haven’t seen Lord of Illusions, and OMG why would you if I remember correctly, you should be able to fall right into Scarlet as long as you’re familiar with the Hellraiser short stories or movies. Barker continues to impress with his masterful use of his type of storytelling. There’s blood, torture, sex and gag worthy descriptions, but also well developed characters that make you root for them. I liked this book. It makes a great reboot if that’s what Barker is actually doing. I’d like to see more Hellraiser type stories, or even more books about Harry D’Amour.
I’d like to give a warning to new Clive Barker readers. This is probably one of the more tamer books by Barker. If you’re worried if you might not make it through The Scarlet Gospels, try one of his Hellraiser short stories first, then proceed to Scarlet. His books are always entertaining, but there’s always at least one scene where you’d prefer not to have eaten that big lunch.
The Scarlet Gospels
Clive Barker
St. Martin’s Press
368 pages
May 19, 2015