RG
Roberto Giacomelli
•Six people wake up in the bus they were passengers on, in the middle of nowhere. There is no trace of the driver and the vehicle has run out of fuel. The group then decides to set off in search of help, arriving at a seemingly uninhabited house, where they decide to spend the night. It will be the beginning of a nightmare, because a monstrous creature lurks between the walls of the dwelling.
“The Circle of the Dead” is an independent short film (about 55 minutes) directed by Andrea Falcioni, a factotum from the Marche region who also appears as an actor, subject writer, screenwriter, and creator of the special effects. Behind this short film lies a small independent production company, ImageInAction Film, represented by Falcioni himself and Lucas Pavetto, who had already taken his first steps in underground horror with another short film, “The bastard contadine”; a peculiar characteristic of these two films is the abundant use of computer graphics for the creation of special effects. It is precisely in this area that “The Circle of the Dead” proves particularly successful; in fact, the massive use of digital effects, used to create the monstrous creature, some details of the staging, and to create the right atmosphere (the fog), could seem unconventional for a practically no-budget product, and yet, beyond the poverty of means, Falcioni has managed to create quite respectable effects, perfectly credible and able to integrate with the environment in which they are inserted, proving to be far superior to those displayed by countless feature films that enjoy high visibility in the regular distribution chain. The creature shown in the film, in addition to being technically well-made, is also aesthetically original and sufficiently frightening, although less visibility would have certainly helped in creating the right pathos.
The film also proves to be particularly valid from a directorial point of view, as one can notice a zealous care for the framing and a notable ability in creating suspense. If the subject stands out for its originality, content, and narrative, the screenplay does not always appear convincing: at some points the accumulation of too many events and the overlapping of different spatial dimensions create confusion; moreover, much of the dialogue appears rather flat and banal. But the real weak point of the product is surely the acting, which, with the exception of Pavetto and especially Falcioni, is extremely amateur and often compromises the success of certain dramatic situations, highlighting the inexperience of the people involved in the cast.
Some rather significant flaws therefore manage to somewhat compromise the full success of “The Circle of the Dead,” a work that nevertheless rises well above most of the domestic independent productions, standing out especially for the excellent technical department (direction-special effects) and for the content originality.
The rating has been rounded up.
Anyone who wants to watch the film can buy the DVD at www.imageinactionfilm.com or download it for free from the same site.