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Full Circle
After the death of her daughter, wealthy housewife Julia Lofting abruptly leaves her husband and moves into an old Victorian home in London to re-start her life. All seems well until she is haunted by the sadness of losing her own child and the ghosts of other children.
Release : | 1981 |
Rating : | 6.2 |
Studio : | Canadian Film Development Corporation, Classic, Famous Players, |
Crew : | Production Design, Director of Photography, |
Cast : | Mia Farrow Keir Dullea Tom Conti Jill Bennett Robin Gammell |
Genre : | Drama Horror Mystery |
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Just what I expected
Don't listen to the negative reviews
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
To date there have been only two films based on books by bestselling author Peter Straub: "Ghost Story", which was an appalling mess, and this one. "Full Circle" is derived from "Julia", Straub's second published novel and first foray into the horror genre--and, while certain arbitrary departures from the book prevent this film from being totally effective, it does capture the formidably spooky atmosphere of Straub's prose. What clicks: A.) Mia Farrow as Julia. She's every bit as persistent, and as fragile, as her counterpart in the novel; desperate for some sense of resolution after the tragic death of her nine-year-old daughter, Julia puts herself at greater and greater risk as she pursues the ghost that haunts her newly-purchased London townhouse and the park adjacent to it. The final encounter between Julia and Olivia is beautifully, deliciously eerie, and works despite the fact that nothing so definite occurs in the book. B.) Colin Towns' sensitive soundtrack, especially in that final scene. What doesn't: the decision to make Magnus, Julia's estranged husband, a much younger and less menacing character than he was in the novel. Keir Dullea delivers an adequate performance as this diminished Magnus, but he's only an incidental character here--not a link to the troubled history of Julia's house, as he was in the book. Missed opportunity: the exclusion of Mona, the little black girl encountered by Julia in the novel. The reader is never quite sure who or what Mona is, but each of her appearances in the book is a precursor to one of Olivia's own dreadful manifestations (or to the revelation of something terrible that Olivia has done). When Julia asks Mona the name of the blonde girl in the park, the answer she receives is not "Olivia" but "Doolya". This is one of the novel's most unsettling moments. Surely it could have been worked into the movie somehow? This is only director Richard Loncraine's second film, but he handles the subject matter deftly. "Full Circle" (which played U.S. theaters in 1981 as "The Haunting of Julia") will please most fans of Peter Straub and intelligent horror in general. Seven and a half stars.
Mia Farrow plays upper class woman who lost her eight year old daughter due to tragic circumstances.Her grief is immense.She distances herself from her wealthy husband Keir Dullea and begins to live in a flat on the outskirts of London.When paranormal party séance starts she begins to see sinister manifestations of children around her.As the story begins to unravel it seems that it's connected with brutal torture and murder of a small boy many years ago...Adapted from excellent and truly creepy Peter Straub's novel "Julia" this slow-moving ghost story is effectively eerie.The acting is fantastic and the conclusion is unforgettably devastating.The piano-and-strings score by Colin Towns adds a lot to subtle atmosphere of dread.8 spectral visions out of 10.
During the first scene of the film, it appears she has a happy life as she has breakfast with her daughter and husband. However, only a few minutes into the film, Julia's daughter starts choking on a piece of apple and cannot breathe. Panicking, Julia hastily grabs a knife to 'make a hole' so her daughter can breathe. (It seems The Heimlich maneuver was not widely known in England at this time) When the paramedics arrive, Julia answers the door in total shock, shaking and covered with blood. After being hospitalized for the trauma Julia endured, she starts a new life, on her own in a new house. Now own her own in new surroundings hoping to start anew, haunting reminders plague Julia of her daughter's tragic death. She is also harassed by her estranged husband who believes she is mentally unstable and his unsuccessful attempts to regain contact with Julia only make matters worse for her. A seance held at Julia's home one night, sends Julia searching for answers about the history of the home Julia is living in. The dark history she discovers is hauntingly parallel to her own recent tragedy. The European title of this film is called "Full Circle" which is appropriate as you will discover by the film's end.
Thirty-three years ago this seemed like a tired takeoff on DON'T LOOK NOW. With the clunkers that are presently out there, it looks like a masterpiece.Why? Well, it's not an EXACT copy – also, it has these people called ACTORS in it.Of course, modern audiences probably wouldn't find it very exciting. After all, the botched-up tracheotomy and infantile castration are both off-screen.Furthermore, it has a story, that thing, you know, giving you a headache and taking time away from the torture porn. No, they wouldn't like it at all.Have you noticed those "user comments" on film sites? You know: I Don't THINK THIS IS A VERY GOOD MOVI In fact I THINK THIS MOVI SUKS AND ALL MY FRIENDS THINK SO TO I Don't KNOW WHY ANYONE WOULD THINK THIS WAS A GOOD MOVI CAUSE IT Totally SUKS Totally SO AL YOU MORANS OUT THERE WHO THINK THIS IS A GOOD MOVI GET A LIFE CAUSE YOU SUK (Was this comment helpful to you?) Originally I just thought it was because, as we all know, the Internet is for Retards. But I'm beginning to think that this may actually be a sample of the movie-going community, some of them perhaps even twelve years old or more.Apparently, this is an adaptation of a novel by Peter Straub, who also supplied the goods in the dazzling GHOST STORY. MIA FARROW is as vulnerable as ever, and KEIR DULLEA her son-of-a-bitch husband – he should probably have stayed on Jupiter.The traumatic loss of a child has of course long since become a stock-and-trade of horror movies, the idea being that it makes the bereaved mother more susceptible to supernatural influences (especially dead children). Nor, I'm sure, will it come as a great surprise to anyone that the juvenile ghost is "evil".Still, the concoction is served with an enthusiasm and attention to detail and effect, from the cozy séance turning into a nightmare to the mother's gleeful confession that she throttled the little monster, that keep you watching. Unfortunately, what might have been an ominously "happy" ending is jettisoned for a standard horrific one.There is the usual amount of body-bags and puzzlement on the part of the audience as to why missing people aren't missed – still, British professionalism is everywhere present. Jolly good show!