The 9th Circle (2007)

Director: Damien Leone

Writer: Damien Leone

Tagline: Pray the beginning is the end.

Actors: Kayla Lian, Mike Giannelli, Christine Evangelista, Anna Maliere, Eric Diez, John McCarthy, Marc Romano, Andrew Mahler, Steven Mancuso, Lori Anne Lovaglio

Runtime: 11m 17s

Category: Devil

Synopsis: The story follows a woman of no name and of no origin. She seems to be of a peaceful nature, one of those good-hearted-by-nature people you only see in films. She is waiting quietly at a train station when the obvious enjoyment of her book is disturbed by a clown with a horn…who has been staring at her. She gets up to leave and the clown grabs her and drugs her. She wakes up chained to a steel pipe somewhere underground. All she can hear is the screaming of another woman off in the distance. She is captured again soon after a daring escape to suffer a fate worse than death…by the hands of the Devil himself!

Review: I found this film on MySpace while looking for something else. When I stumbled across it I was immediately intrigued. I watched it once and was actually speechless. Yeah, go figure; something actually took my words away from me. But I was absolutely enthralled and ended up watching it a few more times…because I had to!

The story is actually the film’s strongest quality. Its simplicity is what makes it scary; just a girl at the mercy, or lack thereof, of a sacrificial cult lead by none other than the Dark Lord himself. I tend to believe that most horror movies out today would be ten times better if all of the other crap was cut out. Just like this; no big production, no opinionated directors or producers only in it for the money, no big shot actors throwing their two cents around (most of the time that’s all it’s worth anyway. Have you ever heard one of them talk about politics or society? It’s like listening to getting moral advice from Saddam Hussein.); just a good, solid story that will leave you wanting more.

The acting was…well…different. It wasn’t bad, oh God no, but it was different. I’m just not used to the kind of acting dished out in independent short films. Actually, I gotta say, it was rather good. It was believable, gripping, and very well orchestrated. The lack of script aided this, I think; not that the actors would have screwed it up by talking more, but, like I said before, its simplicity is its strongest asset. Without the burden of memorizing lines, the actors were free to spend that time capturing their character’s persona. Damien…bravo. You really know your shut!

The gore was not what I really expected. I was expecting some cut up pieces of beef and sausage casings covered in catsup-looking blood…especially when I read that Damien, the director and writer, also was in charge of the effects. It’s a lot for one man to do for a single production, and he was able to bring about a balance between the three that I have yet to see matched. It was not Hollywood gore mind you, but for an independent film by a guy who is only two years over the legal drinking age, you gotta give him mad props!

Rating: See as how this is the first short film ever reviewed by our wonderful organization, I think that careful measures must be taken. Thus I will have to rate this film at a 21. I would have liked to have seen more of that freaky-ass clown. That thing scared the crap out of me and my daughter (she poops all the time anyway, she’s seventeen months…I’m just trying to make a relational association. Oh, you don’t know what that means…well…tough). The other thing that I would have liked to see more of is the scene with the pregnant chick. I think that a substantial intestinal spill would have added a nice sloppy touch to the grit of the situation. But, overall I would have to say that this is the absolute best horror short film I’ve ever seen. If there is anyone out there who knows of a better one…please, for the love of all that is gory and scary, pass on the love! Damien…you are THE MAN! (21of25).

View the film here.