STEPHEN CRAGG’S 2009 CIRCLE OF EIGHT

07 Mar 2020

Boy can I pick ‘ em. But in my defense, when I saw Stephen Cragg had directed one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and about 4 episodes of Reaper, I figured there was promise telefon…. right? I mean both are great shows (that is before Buffy jumped the shark after season 6; no 4; no 6….) And Reaper… well, geez, what happened to that great show?? Why do they always cancel the ones I like? Tru Calling, Dollhouse…. Dead Like Me…

Boy, I sure can pick ‘em.

This time, my pick was Circle of Eight. The DVD sleeve was so promising with its depiction of an ominous high rise apartment building with some pretty odd characters as tenants that mysteriously begin dying once Jessica moves in…..

Sounds like it could have potential, right?

Wrong.

In the movie world, Jessica may be the stupidest bimbo on 2 legs (except for maybe Penny in Penny Dreadful.) After feeling guilty for not saving her little brother from drowning, Jessica moves into the “Dante” apartment building where everything and anything happens…. all on day one. You’d think she’d realize her best course of action would be to leave as quickly as she arrived, but no; she stays. Just like all stupid bimbettes in these types of movies. Guess we would not have a movie otherwise…

For starters, Jessica (small potato actress Austin Highsmith) meets her oddball neighbors (also small potato actors you won’t recognize except for maybe DJ Qualls) who for whatever reason, feel right at home with Jessica. So much so that they walk right into her apartment, uninvited and without knocking. Almost as if they know her, and know her well. Hint Hint.

And you would think Jess would ask questions whenever her brand new neighbors (whom she has known for all of an hour) seem to know personal details about her she had not shared since arriving. Nor had she been freaked out enough to leave the building once she found one of her new neighbors hanging bloodied and dead from the ceilings rafters. No, our little naive waif thinks its smarter to hole herself up in new dark and dreary apartment. Makes perfect sense to me.

Such promise this movie had. Such apparent high hopes I had for it. But Circle of Eight left more loose ends than the number of advertisers who have dropped Tiger Woods. And none of it makes any sense until the last 5 minutes when all the pieces come together but leave you with at least 2 new questions, and a really big “WTF?” expression on your face….

So if you happen to be at your local video rental store and Circle of Eight catches your eye, don’t be fooled like I was. It’s definitely a waste of time.