Film / Circle

In here...everything gets you killed.

Circle is a 2015 American sci-fi psychological thriller film written and directed by Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione. It stars an ensemble cast including Carter Jenkins, Julie Benz, Lawrence Kao, and Allegra Masters.

Fifty people wake up in a darkened room, all strangers from all walks of life, arranged in a circle around a sinister device that kills one of them every two minutes, or if any of them try to leave. Before long, they figure out that they can influence which person the device kills next... and the debate of whose life is worthy of saving begins in earnest.

The script for Circle was reportedly inspired by 12 Angry Men. It has also fielded many comparisons to the film Cube; to that end, a producer on Circle stated that in comparison, this film provides more answers and has a more definitive ending.

The film premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 28, 2015, and was later released on video-on-demand on October 16 of that year.

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Circle provides examples of:

• An Aesop: The greatest danger to humanity is itself.
• Alien Abduction: The prevailing theory about why everyone is there. It turns out to be correct, although the aliens themselves are never seen. The characters theorize that the aliens are either forcing them to kill each other off for social experiments, or just their sick amusement.
• Aliens Are Bastards: The aliens are forcing the characters to kill each other either For Science! or For the Evulz.
• All Gays Are Pedophiles: When a woman reveals herself to be part of a lesbian couple with a child when pressed on her background, the Lawyer goes on a homophobic tirade, insinuating that she and her wife are grooming their young daughter. His bigoted attitude disgusts more than enough people in the room for him to be eliminated next.
• All There in the Manual: The unnamed black man in the grey suit is credited as "The Pilot", which is probably his occupation.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Whether or not the shocked people are actually being killed or just removed from the game is a point of contention among fans. One of the first people zapped is seen bleeding from his orifices afterwards, but that could have just been from a cracked skull when he hit the ground.
  • The Rude Atheist claims that the Attractive Blonde Woman next to him is actually an ex-pornstar, which she denies. She might have been and just didn't want to be associated with her past career, or (probably wisely, if that's the case) didn't want to risk exposing herself to social stigma considering the triviality of the reasons that lead to some of the victims being chosen. Or maybe he was just making it up from whole cloth in a deliberate attempt to kill himself. It's even possible he just mistook her for someone who looked like her.
• Ambiguously Gay: The Lesbian suggests she's not the only gay person in the room and looks pointedly at The Rich Guy. He looks troubled, but it's never confirmed or revisited.
• Amoral Attorney: The Lawyer is a homophobic Smug Snake. He treats the entire ordeal of selecting who has to die next as if he were arguing a case in court, but he fatally misjudges the audience he's speaking to.
• "Angry Black Man" Stereotype: The main black person of the circle starts angrily complaining that the voting system has become racist. He gets flak for pulling the "race card" in a situation that is absolutely unfair to begin with, even from the other black people in the circle. His suspicions are then immediately proven right when another prisoner goes on a racist rant, but he calms down after the Racist Cop is killed. His attitude is ultimately validated when he, the lone black character left, is killed by the pregnant-woman-and-child bloc rushing to eliminate a member of the every-man-for-himself bloc and he's the easiest to identify and target ("everybody vote for the black guy!") among all the white people remaining.
• Anyone Can Die: A given, since the entire premise is that (almost) everyone will die. Characters will often be set up to be major players, only to be eliminated just as quickly. Even those who are deemed the most likely survivors (The Kid and the Pregnant Woman) are constantly in danger. In the end, only the most ruthless and amoral person survives.
• Armies Are Evil: Subverted. Some of the people in the room suspect that the lone Marine in their midst might have something to do with their kidnapping or the alien invasion, but he furiously rebukes them, pointing out that he's been risking his neck for years and that he just returned from deployment to see his wife and newborn. He proves himself to be one of the most moral people there in his effort to protect the Young Girl and Pregnant Lady.
• Asshole Victim: Several of the characters get zapped while on a tear about their own prejudiced point of view or after revealing some major sin from their past. The most notable examples are Raoul the Domestic Abuser, the Racist Cop, the Cynical Atheist, the Lawyer, and the Rich Banker.
• Bait the Dog: The Black Man actually seems kinda sympathetic when it turns out that his desperate claim that he was being targeted because of his race wasn't entirely unfounded... before he conspires to kill the Young Girl and the Pregnant Woman.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Eric has plenty of opportunities throughout the film for his plans to go awry. There are several rounds where he could have been selected randomly. He lucks out that the pragmatists' faction falls apart due to infighting between their members and the major mistake by the Bearded Man of assuming the Silent Man is on his side. His final plan would also have been ruined if the Little Girl didn't wait until the very last second for her heroic sacrifice.
  • When the (Fake) Husband and Wife announce themselves to the room, the Husband begs the others to kill him instead of his wife if it came down to it. While a risky move, he did it knowing full well that most other people would balk at killing someone's loved one right in front of them.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Several characters choose to kill themselves voluntarily by jumping off the platform rather than wait to be killed by the circle.
• Bigot with a Badge: One of the black people trapped in the circle starts complaining that the voting order has become racist. Although this initially draws the ire of his fellow captives, he's proven right when the Cop goes on a bigoted tirade against black people as a whole and "socialist bullshit" in particular. Interestingly, the Cop had earlier gotten a Latino Tattooed Crook killed because he allegedly beat his girlfriend. The criminal himself confirmed this, but it raises doubts as to how sincere the Cop's motives were.
• Bittersweet Ending: Eric tricks the Little Girl into killing herself for the baby while he votes for the Pregnant Woman at the last second. He and the unborn fetus are the only survivors left, and he returns to Earth after voting to kill the baby. At first, this ending seems like a downer because the character revealed to be the most cold-blooded and manipulative of them all ends up surviving, but Eric then finds the survivors of other circles, and we see that almost half of them are children and pregnant women. This means that in many other ships, everyone else willingly died in order to do the right thing and save those more vulnerable than themselves, which can restore some of a viewer's faith in mankind.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Eric is seemingly an intelligent, kindhearted young man. He is the first one to protect the Young Pregnant Woman and the Little Girl, he's the one who discovers the plan by the pragmatists who want to kill the Young Pregnant Woman and the Little Girl, and he rallies everyone into killing them off. At the final vote, however, he manipulates the Little Girl into killing herself and uses his knowledge of the timing of the vote to take out the Pregnant Woman in the same moment, winning his survival.
• Black Dude Dies First:
  • Discussed by the African-American man, who sarcastically suggests that everyone kill off all the black people first. A lot of the other characters call him out on trying to score sympathy points by pulling the race card. Even the other black people in the circle disagree with him and tell him to leave them out of it. However, this argument is quickly shut down when the Cop suddenly displays genuinely racist views. His suspicions are ultimately validated when he, the lone black character left, is killed by the pregnant-woman-and-child bloc rushing to eliminate a member of the every-man-for-himself bloc and he's the easiest to identify and target ("everybody vote for the black guy!") among all the white people remaining.
  • This is also played straight with the first onscreen casualties being a Hispanic woman and an African-American man.
• Bloodless Carnage: The device (probably) kills people with some kind of electrical shock without leaving a mark on them, and the body is dragged off through some kind of magnetism involving the implant in their hands.
• Bottle Episode: Aside from a short scene at the end, the entire film is about a group of people standing still in a dark room.
• Break the Haughty: The Rude Atheist and the Rich Banker both have minor breakdowns with the knowledge that they would be the next to die.
• Call-Back: Early on, someone theorizes that the Pregnant Woman would count as two people. At the end, when she dies, her fetus ties with Eric.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Trying to rig the game never works out as intended. Refuse to vote? The game picks a victim at random. Try to force a tie? Either someone changes their vote in the run-off or everyone involved in the tie dies.
• Chekhov's Skill: Eric is very observant, which becomes obvious as he was the one to notice that someone is changing his vote to the pregnant lady and also understanding the motive behind it. He was also the one who remembered most about the abduction. This helps him make it right to the end.
• The Chessmaster: Eric notices the one guy trying to vote for the pregnant lady and eliminates him. Then, by explaining that the pregnant lady and the kid will probably last until the end, he actually paints a target on their back for the other ones who want to survive at all costs. He signals to the pregnant lady to vote for the bearded man, taking the last of the pragmatists out. Finally, he manipulates Katie into sacrificing herself and then killing the pregnant lady by a last moment twist of the wrist. During the whole thing, he stays away from any ideological discussions or emotional outbursts, making sure nobody feels any strong hostility towards him.
• Child Hater: The Rich Man claims he has 7 children, but his behavior strongly suggests he was lying, as he aggressively campaigns to kill the Little Girl (the Lesbian also suspects that he is a Gay man). While the others in the pragmatist camp make purely pragmatic arguments for doing so, the Rich Man suggests that the Little Girl is fair game if she's a "miserable brat" or doesn't do well enough in school.
• Children Are Innocent: Two of the would-be victims are a ten-year-old girl and a pregnant woman. They both survive to the end...where they are killed by Eric, who exploited this trope by manipulating the situation until he and they were the only three left.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The Fake Husband and the Fake Wife are manipulated and blackmailed by both the protectors and the pragmatists to vote off certain members. When both groups realize they are lying about being married, they become targets instead of swing voters. The Fake Wife breaks down in tears while the Fake Husband angrily yells at the others that it was her idea and to vote for her only to get eliminated instead.
• Closed Circle: A literal example here, as the people are trapped in a circle that will kill them if they try to leave. Surrounding them is nothing but a featureless black void that the bodies of the dead periodically disappear into.
• Contrived Coincidence: How Bearded Man realizes that Fake Husband and Wife were lying to them all along. Even if they really were a married couple, what are the odds they just happened to land right next to each other? The only people who knew each other at all were randomly placed in the room.
• The Corrupter: One can make a case for the Bearded Man, since he's able to pressure the Lesbian and Pretty Girl into actively trying to kill a pregnant woman and a ten year old girl by playing on them not wanting to die themselves.
• The Cynic: The Rude Atheist and the Asian Kid believe that all of them are going to die.
• Damsel in Distress: On more than one occasion, the Little Girl and the Pregnant Woman end up in ties where their lives are on the line and need to be saved by the protectors.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • The Asian Kid, and the Lawyer.
  • One-Armed Man has some nice zingers as well in his objections to some of the reasoning used by others.
    [when Rich Man starts questioning the Young Girl] Oh, no. She got a B on her last test. Let's kill her.
    [when Lawyer demands to know the Illegal Mexican's status] What, now you need a fucking green card to be fucking abducted?
• Death by Racism: Since the characters are forced to kill each other off by popular vote, every time one of the abductees espouses openly bigoted views, they're almost inevitably chosen.
• Dead Star Walking: Both College Guy and Wife are portrayed by well-known TV actors. Neither of them survive, and the former is killed before the halfway mark.
• Death of a Child: Discussed at length due to the presence of a ten-year-old girl and a pregnant woman, and the knowledge that at least one will be sentenced to death. In the end, neither survive, and the woman's fetus is specifically killed by the last survivor.
• Decoy Protagonist:
  • The first woman to wake up is a young woman who has all the makings of being the Final Girl. She's quickly cast aside once the other survivors start waking up and is reduced to being another background survivor. She's later offed unceremoniously during the last half-hour of the movie.
  • Man 1 is the first character to figure out how the circle works, and he clearly seems like a level-headed character capable of keeping everyone—nope. He's the third victim.
  • College Guy is the first one to figure out how to buy everyone time and tries to figure out how and why everything's happening. And while his methods seemed extreme, he seemed to know what he was doing. So naturally, he dies early on, too.
• Developing Doomed Characters: We only get to know some of the characters right before they are killed. The most notable example is Beth, who tells her backstory to everyone before dying.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • The Lawyer starts to argue that the Lesbian woman should be picked because she and her wife are undermining "family values", and even goes so far as to suggest that she's a pedophile. He's saying this to a room full of Californians. Naturally, he gets picked next.
  • This ends up being the undoing of the pragmatist group: they have a common goal in general, but not a real strategy or ranks, leading to their demise. Also, while the group is focused on the fact that eliminating the Kid and Pregnant Woman gives all of them a chance, only the Bearded Guy thinks further ahead realizing that still only one of them can make it, and are caught out of guard when they end up being sacrificed for that goal.
  • Ironically, while being the cleverer of the group, the Bearded Guy is the one that falls for it the most: he assumes the votes in his favor without actually counting them, and when Eric suddenly reveals himself willing to go along with his plan he sees it as a victory, not considering Eric might have a plan of his own. This first leads to his whole group being wiped out, but after that he trusts Eric again, this time leading to his own demise.
• Disproportionate Retribution: A lot of people are killed simply due to being a category the others dislike or pissing them off somehow.
  • The most noticeable example would be Beth: she is agreeable enough to start telling her life's story, which is typical and has nothing offensive. She is killed because the others didn't find that story justified keeping her alive. Mind you, she is killed before openly racist or bigoted characters, or others actively antagonizing the characters, and isn't even killed because of something bad she did or as part of some strategic vote.
  • Mocked when the Rich Man questions the Little Girl and seriously argues that she might deserve to die if she's enough of a Bratty Half-Pint or simply isn't a straight-A student. The One-Armed Man points out how idiotic this is ("Oh my god, she got a B, let's kill her!")
• Domestic Abuse: The Tattooed Man beat up his girlfriend, as revealed by the Cop. This gets him killed.
• Down L.A. Drain: The final scene is set here, before moving out to a nearby street.
• Driven to Suicide: Several people "volunteer" to die by stepping off their platforms for various reasons. The Minister quietly asks God for forgiveness before stepping off his platform and dying.
• Dwindling Party: Every two minutes, someone dies. They actually attempt several different ways to cheat the game, such as not voting or forcing a tie, both of which fail. For the former, the device selects a random victim. For the latter, everyone put into a tie will be killed if the votes don't shift.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The lawyer claims to have a family, and the Abuser claims that a teardrop tattoo he has is for his teenaged cousin, who was killed by the police.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even the unpleasant lawyer, who just thought that talking about racism was bullshit, looks uncomfortable when the cop goes on a racist rant.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Deconstructed and heavily debated throughout the film. The pragmatists argue that while they don't want to kill children and pregnant women, they all deserve to vote according to their self interest in this unfair circumstance.
  • Despite his racist behavior that gets him sacrificed, the Cop also is the one that informs people of the Abuser's wife-beating, showing sincere disgust for it.
  • Regardless of all the other crimes or sins they previously used as excuses to vote for someone, almost nobody thought illegal immigration and homosexuality should be among them. During the Lawyer's homophobic tirade against the Lesbian several people who end up joining the pragmatist faction including the Black Man and Rich Man are visibly uncomfortable at his comments.
  • At one point in a tie between the Little Girl and the Rich Banker, the Fake Wife can't bring herself to kill the Little Girl and doesn't vote, resulting in the Rich Banker's death.
  • The Pregnant Woman also can't bring herself to vote for the Little Girl.
• Exact Words: The Fake Wife said she was married and has a daughter. As she later insists, she didn't lie about that — she just wasn't married to the Fake Husband.
• Face Death with Dignity: The black man in the grey suit, Shaun, the Illegal Mexican, the Silent Man, The Minister and the Little Girl all willingly go to their deaths for the sake of others.
• Face–Heel Turn: Many characters end up joining the group of pragmatists even if they won't vote to kill the Little Girl and the Young Pregnant Woman. They do this because they either want to survive or because they want to see their family again. The most notable examples of relatively nice characters joining this group are: the Husband, the Wife, the Pretty Girl, and the Lesbian.
• Failed a Spot Check: Only one person ever notices that the Silent Man doesn't vote. This has fatal consequences for the Bearded Man when he simply assumes the Silent Man is on his side.
• Fatal Family Photo: Downplayed. The first thing the Illegal Mexican does is pull out a family photo, but he isn't killed even though the others were debating picking him next. When he does go, it's to save the Little Girl.
• Fat Bastard:
  • The Amoral Attorney has a noticeable potbelly even though his limbs and head look slender.
  • The Cop, who turns out to be racist, even more so.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: As the final timer is running down, Eric suddenly shouts at the Little Girl to walk off the platform, despite talking to her kindly beforehand. This is because if she doesn't step off the platform in time, the end result will almost certainly be a tie and Eric's plan will have failed.
• Forgettable Character:
  • When the atheist ties with a woman, who tries to save herself by pointing out she didn't say anything wrong, he yells: "Who the f is this?!" Justified in that the audience probably didn't notice her either.
  • The Silent Man, who might be invoking this as a strategy; he never votes or says a word, and as such no one takes much notice of him. He makes it all the way to the final six with almost no one even acknowledging he's there.
• Freudian Excuse: The Tattooed Man, who is revealed to be a Domestic Abuser, says that his cousin was shot by police when he was 15. It doesn't save him.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: All the characters are seemingly randomly selected from society and forced into a Machiavellian game of life and death.
  • The Bearded Man is silent for the first act of the film. But when the group begins to divide, he quickly emerges as the leader of the pragmatists, persuading others to vote along with him and coordinating who should die next, becoming the primary antagonist to the more sympathetic protector faction.
  • Eric seems to be a normal person who argues for making purely moral choices in the game and becomes the rival ringleader to the pragmatists. In the end, however, it's revealed that he's either changed his mind or been hiding his true intentions to come out on top with a cruel masterstroke.
• Good Shepherd: The Minister, who tries to comfort some of the others, and is part of the group dedicated to saving Katie or the Pregnant Woman.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Occasionally, we won't even see when the orb zaps someone to death — which makes it all the more shocking when someone unexpected dies.
• Gray-and-Gray Morality: Explored throughout the film. Nobody is totally good, and very few are irredeemable scumbags.
  • Actually averted, however: purely heroic characters are shown sacrificing themselves for others, some of them are never actually seen voting, and one is acknowledged never having voted at all, and some people are shown with loving bonds not broken even in that situation. The ending shows the circle we followed to have been mostly an exception, with pregnant women and children being more often than not chose as the survivor, and even in the titular circle the first attempts are to find a way for everyone to live, only starting turning on each other once all methods are proven ineffective.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: The Racist Cop and the Rude Atheist. Inevitably, their rude tirades only serve to get them killed.
• Hate Sink:
  • The Rich Man, whose Social Darwinist views, Dirty Coward rationale and It's All About Me attitude are absolutely vile. He also makes a completely unnecessary ableist comment towards the One Armed Man — even the Lesbian calls him out on this despite being abrasive herself.
  • The Lawyer makes racist comments against illegal immigrants, deliberately mispronounces the name of a teenage boy who sacrificed himself to buy the others time, and goes on a homophobic tirade against the Lesbian. The latter finally gets him eliminated.
• Heroic Suicide:
  • Illegal Mexican gives his life to spare the Little Girl when they tie.
  • A few characters volunteer to be killed to buy the others more time. The black guy in the grey suit sacrifices himself so Shaun doesn't have to, and Shaun himself does the same so he won't have to vote anymore. The mother who lost her son volunteers right after Shaun.
  • The Little Girl sacrifices herself to spare the Pregnant Woman.
  • When the people force the two lovers in a tie, they decide to go both together rather than one being responsible for the death of the other.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Several times, one character argues heatedly for why another particular character deserves to die next — only to find that everyone else is so disgusted by their hateful rant that they are the next one to die instead.
  • After emerging as the leader of the pragmatist faction, the Bearded Man assumes the silent man is on his side. This turns out to be a fatal mistake.
  • The Bearded Guy cheers after four people are eliminated, even if two were members of his faction, since lower numbers means less people to control. This inspires Eric to offer a trade, knowing that the Bearded Guy will jump at the chance, using it as a trap to kill the Fake Wife.
  • When everyone tries to vote for themselves to force a universal tie, one unnamed survivor secretly switches his vote to the Young Pregnant Lady in an attempt to eliminate her. Eric notices this and switches his own vote. In the subsequent runoff everyone votes to save the Young Pregnant Lady, eliminating the other survivor.
• Hollywood Atheist: The Atheist is rude, cynical and mocks other people for believing in God.
• Hope Spot: When it's just Eric, the Little Girl, and the Pregnant Woman left, the audience is relieved that one of the two innocents is going to survive. However, Eric was faking his kindness the whole time and killed both of them.
• Humans Are Bastards: Eric sarcastically congratulates the aliens for proving this. Turns more ambiguous at the end, as a lot of the survivors are children and pregnant women, suggesting that, in at least some circles, the protectors won.
• Hyper-Awareness: One thing that helps Eric get so far in the circle is that he intelligently observes all the actions and interactions of the different players. He notices, from across the room, that someone is voting for the Pregnant Woman, and immediately deduces that some people will try to eliminate her and the Little Girl to increase their odds of survival.
• Hypocrite:
  • The Rich Guy advocated allowing those with children to live longer than those who didn't. Yet he was one of the main people to also push for killing the Young Pregnant Woman and the Little Girl.
  • The Rich Banker also advocated how his side was about treating other people "equally", yet he finds very flimsy pretenses to consider some people being worth less than others and deserving to be killed.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: Played with. People can't use their votes to eliminate themselves. However, stepping off your platform causes you to automatically be eliminated, which resets the timer, and acts as a way around this.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Comes down to this in many cases. The Husband says this word-for-word when he switches sides to prevent his wife from being killed next. Only it's not his wife, they were both just pretending to be married for sympathy and increase their chances of survival, and he had to switch his allegiance simply to keep up the pretense.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Anyone who goes on a bigoted rant about something, like ageism, racism, misogyny, or homophobia. The Cop, Lawyer, Atheist, and Rich Banker are all eliminated this way.
  • The Fake Wife putting her trust in the Bearded Man. By that point, the Bearded Man has made it clear he doesn't care about killing the kid and the pregnant lady to save himself. Why would he be loyal to her? He was also the one to expose her being a liar in the first place. Sure enough, he offers her up as a trade for the Little Girl; except due to Eric's Batman Gambit she dies and the Little Girl is spared.
• I Have a Family:
  • The Rich Guy attempts to earn sympathy from the other characters by informing the group he has seven children. Many of the other characters accuse him of lying to buy himself time and mockingly claim to have even more children. We don't find out whether the Rich Guy was telling the truth, but the eagerness with which he attempts to kill the Little Girl suggests that he was lying.
  • It also turns out that another man and woman pretended to be husband and wife to buy some sympathy.
  • But it does work to a certain extent—up until the two sides are established, people with children managed to last a bit longer than those who said they didn't have any.
• Imperiled in Pregnancy: There's one pregnant woman among the group of fifty captives. It doesn't take long for different characters to figure out that she (and a little girl) would have the strongest chances of surviving the elimination, as most people would balk at murdering either of them. However, this makes them the prime targets of a group seeking to "level the playing field" to increase their own chances of getting out alive.
• Insane Troll Logic: The Rich Guy claims that people with children should be given priority over those who don't. Then he excludes the Young Pregnant Woman from this, claiming that she's expendable because "lots of people have babies."
• Irony: All the members of the pragmatism group end up eliminated for pragmatic reasons. In their defense, though, this is also due to Eric being actually the craftiest and most pragmatic of them all.
  • The Rich Banker makes himself hated by the majority before revealing his reasons, ending up in a tie with one of the people he wanted to eliminate. It's also very likely that the Bearded Guy saw it as the chance to take control of the group.
  • The Black Guy is killed by the opposing faction when they realize he is the easy one to identify, and they can vote all against him too fast for the other group to counteract that.
  • The Lesbian and the Pretty Girl end up in a tie with the Marine and Cancer Survivor Lady. Rather than try to save one of them and risk the survival of either Marine and Cancer Survivor Lady, the Wife and Bearded Guy let them die to cull the number of both groups, thinking it will turn the tide to their advantage.
  • The Wife is quickly given up when Eric offers the Bearded Guy the chance to sacrifice her, but also kill the Pregnant Lady. It also ends up being for nothing, since thanks to Eric's plan the Pregnant Lady survives anyway.
  • Lastly, the Bearded Guy is disposed of since both Eric and the Pregnant Lady realize they have the majority, and he is more dangerous to keep around than the Silent Man.
• Jerkass: While a majority of the cast consists of prejudiced characters or people with flaws, Atheist, the Lawyer, and the Rich Guy stand out the most because of their obnoxious and arrogant behavior.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Asian Kid is more in line with the pragmatic group, but he's usually the first to call out other people's biases. He mocks the Rich Guy's idea of saving people based on class, and defends the Lesbian against the Lawyer.
  • The Lesbian ultimately sides with the pragmatic group but only after being pressured by the Bearded Man and out of a desire to see her wife and daughter again. Despite somewhat slut-shaming the Pregnant Woman the Lesbian later defends her from the Rich Guy's antagonistic line of questioning.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Some characters, such as College Guy and Bearded Man, are capable of committing hard, yet logical choices that get some characters killed in order to prolong the other characters' chances of survival.
  • The Cynical Atheist constantly and repeatedly belittles everyone around him, but when the Black Man tries to appeal to Positive Discrimination to make the voting "fair", Atheist immediately points out what in the blue fuck is fair about a bunch of innocent people slowly being murdered anyway.
  • On a similar not, the Black Man might be rude about it, but several of the characters there express racists or general bigoted reasoning to deem people "unworthy", so he had a reason to look out for it. The Black Man also calls the Rich Man out on dictating who gets to live based on social class given that he's a wealthy banker.
• Karma Houdini: Eric gets off scot-free for killing Pregnant Woman's baby and convincing the Little Girl to kill herself.
• Kick the Dog: While there are plenty of moments of this as people try to get others voted off instead of them, a more petty and senseless moment is the Lawyer praising Shaun's sacrifice and promising to name his next kid after him, but then deliberately mispronouncing his name as he steps off the pedestal. He seems to find it amusing.
• Kill the Cutie: Most notably the Minister, Shaun, the Little Girl, and the Spanish Translator.
• Kill the Poor: The Rich Guy suggests picking off people based on their "societal contribution" and goes on a rant against people on welfare, which just ends up painting a target on his own back. He survives several ties, but is finally eliminated when he tries to get the Little Girl killed.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Happens several times when people protest against being picked.
• Language Barrier: When attention is drawn to Illegal Mexican, there's a debate about whether he should be eliminated next since he doesn't speak any English and they're already short on time. Spanish Translator tries to act as an intermediary until she's killed off to shift votes in favor of the pragmatists.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Eric's rant to those running the Circle after he survives at the end when another countdown starts and it seems like he's going to be killed regardless. It could just as well be directed at the audience, who have also spectated the full process of characters killing each other, especially with Eric noting that he's probably not "the one that you wanted" to have survived. (See You Bastard! below for the full speech.)
• Left Hanging: The ending reveals that it really was an alien abduction and there are even more circles than that one. However, why the aliens did it remains unknown. Eric speculates that they are testing the humanity, but testing what and for what purpose?
• Let Them Die Happy: The Minister comforts a grieving woman who elects to step off of her circle to buy the others time after revealing her son died prior to the events of the film, telling her that she'll see him again soon. The Rude Atheist reacts dismissively but the Fake Wife and Spanish Translator defend the Minister.
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • Eric plays his "nice guy" role to the hilt from the very beginning. Through observation, persuasion and a generous helping of luck, he plays everyone to the very end.
  • The Rich Guy and especially the Bearded Man also prove formidable at persuading people to do what they want. However, the former ends up becoming unhinged and voted to his death as a result, while the latter is Out-Gambitted by Eric.
• Morality Chain: At one point the Pregnant Lady seems to be wavering on joining the pragmatist faction after the Bearded Man pressures her. Katie pleads with her not to, and she reaffirms her loyalty to the protectors.
• Morally Bankrupt Banker: The Rich Guy, per his own description, was actually a normal banker who just loaned money to businesses and entrepeneurs, not some crook. However, when he is forced to participate in the elimination, he turns into a Dirty Coward and for a while leads the effort to kill the Little Girl and Pregnant Lady.
• Mutual Kill:
  • When there are only 11 survivors left, the next vote results in a colossal 4-way tie between Marine, Cancer Survivor Lady, Lesbian, and Pretty Girl, that takes out all of them.
  • The Bearded Man attempts this twice to take out the Little Girl, offering to trade her for the Rich Man and then later the Fake Wife. It backfires badly both times.
  • When the pragmatist block's majority intends to vote for the Solder, he threatens to force a tie between himself and the Fake Wife with the threat of killing them both. The Fake Husband relents and switches his vote at the pleas of his "wife" to save her, resulting in the Black Man's death instead.
• Nice Guy: Marine, Cancer Survivor Lady, One-Armed Man, and Spanish Translator. These four take a strong stance against killing the Little Girl and the Young Pregnant Woman and never waver. The Minister is also a pleasant man who tries to offer kindness to people, including to a grieving mother whose son died prior to the events of the movie. He opts to step off the circle rather than be involved in getting the Pregnant Woman and Little Girl killed.
• No Name Given: Only a handful of the characters have names, and in the credits the others are described by phrases like Cancer Survivor, Pretty Girl, Cop, and so on. Justified in that they don't really have any time to get to know each other, and at least one survivor argues that knowing each other's name only makes what they're doing harder.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Several times when people realize they've been marked for elimination.
  • Marine is shocked when he thinks he's firmly beaten the Bearded Man, only for the majority to switch to the pragmatists again.
  • Bearded Man gets two when he gets Out-Gambitted twice. First when the Silent Man (whom he had assumed was in his faction) doesn't vote, causing his remaining ally, the Fake Wife, to get killed and causing Eric to regain the majority. Then on the subsequent round where he realizes Eric's majority voted for him rather than the Silent Man it dawns on him right before he's zapped, only being able to say "Wait..."
  • Also, Katie notices that Eric is casting a vote at the very last moment, but she's already sacrificed herself at that point
• Ontological Mystery: How did they get there? Why are they there? Turns out it's aliens, albeit for reasons that are never revealed.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Several characters attempt to be this by manipulating everyone through suggestions in order to survive, but none play it quite as well as Eric does.
• Out-Gambitted:
  • When the room decides to force a universal tie in an attempt to cheat the game, one person secretly switches his vote to kill Pregnant Lady. Another astute person notices this, and switches his vote to that guy so he'll be trapped in a tie with Pregnant Lady. Of course, the room chooses to save her over him.
  • When the cast is whittled down to less than ten people, Eric manages to outmaneuver Bearded Man twice in a row. First, he observes that the Silent Man never votes. Then he agrees to a deal to kill the Wife and the Little Girl simultaneously via tied vote, but ensures that the Silent Man was intended to be the final vote for the Little Girl. This results in the Wife getting a majority vote by default, and reducing the pragmatist bloc to only the Bearded Man. Then, he makes up a story about the Silent Man being untouchable and suggests voting for him, so that Bearded Man will waste his vote on Silent Man instead of trying to persuade either the Little Girl or Pregnant Woman and so gets eliminated himself.
• Pet the Dog: While the Lawyer's sincerity is debatable, the Rich Man actually does seem to show a moment of decency to teenage Shaun when he offers himself to die next.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The Cop, the Lawyer, and the Rich Man make themselves rather unpopular with their respectively racist, homophobic, and Kill the Poor rants.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Several characters try their hands at it including the Bearded Man and the Rich Banker but Eric outplays all of them.
• Protectorate: The Little Girl and the Young Pregnant Woman are presumed to be the most likely survivors, since they're considered the most innocent. However, as soon as attention is drawn to them, this makes them the focus point between a group that want to protect them and another group that wants to eliminate them first to even the odds for the rest of them.
• Precision F-Strike: The Old White Lady gets only one line right before College Guy is eliminated after he suggests killing everyone over not just 70, but 50 or perhaps even 40 years of age: "Fuck you!"
• The Quiet One: There is one man who makes it to the final four who never voted and hadn't said a word the whole time. It almost seems like he was going to be revealed to be one of the aliens, but nope, he's just human as he gets eliminated himself.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: The premise is about a Deadly Game which is set up in a dark room with a large glowing red circle in the middle.
• Red Herring: The characters delve into their pasts at different points, hoping that there might be some clue to explain what is happening or how to escape from the game, but none of it really means anything. They were just picked at random during the Alien Invasion.
• Relative Button: The Lawyer unknowingly drew the ire of the middle-aged Black Man to vote for him with his homophobic rant, as the latter admits that his son is actually gay.
  Black Man: My son's gay. And there's not a damn thing wrong with him.
• Rewatch Bonus: In the beginning, when everyone starts talking at once, you can briefly see the Husband and Wife talking to each other. If you've seen the film already, you can realize that this is the moment that they establish their plan to masquerade as a married couple.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: During the discussion about whether or not to kill Cancer Survivor Lady, the Black Man and the middle-aged Black Woman get into this back and forth. Black Man is smart enough not to press the issue beyond that. College Guy isn't.
  Black Woman: That's not true. [Cancer Lady isn't more likely to die because she's in remission.]
  Black Man: What are you, lady, a doctor?
  Black Woman: Actually, yes I am, asshole!
• Rich Jerk: The Rich Guy is this. He defends himself by saying that he works hard for his money, but he displays a somewhat callous and sharp personality throughout. What really turns people against him isn't the fact that he's wealthy, but his disgusting Kill the Poor and Child Hater attitude.
• Riddle for the Ages: We get no explanation for why the aliens are doing this. Researching human behavior and/or sadistic gratification are offered as possibilities by the captives.
• Rule of Drama: It's established that if votes are tied, a run-off results, while if no one votes, the machine selects a person randomly. Therefore, when it's down to just Eric and the Pregnant Woman's unborn child, one of them should have simply been picked right away without a tie resulting since neither of them voted, but this would have removed the dramatic impact of The Reveal. The baby itself also never counted as a player up until that point. Then again, all the "rules" of the game are deduced as event unfolds, but never stated, nor is ever actually stated that there are rules being followed. As one of the characters points out, after all, the very situation they find themselves in is intrinsically unfair. It's entirely possible that the aliens changed the rules to invoke that trope.
• Sadist: The domestic abuser is briefly seen chuckling after the death of a woman in the circle. This is what causes the Racist Cop to notice and recognize him.
• Sadistic Choice:
  • The whole movie is full of those, but the main one is about either let the child or the Pregnant Woman be killed. The Bearded Man tries to force Eric to choose between the two of them, only for Eric to realize that the Silent Man has never voted and uses him to break the tie, allowing him to regain the majority by killing the Fake Wife.
  • The Pregnant Woman has one herself eventually: kill both herself and her unborn child to save a little girl, or allow the little girl to commit suicide for her? She refuses to vote for the little girl when pressed, but simply breaks down sobbing when the little girl volunteers herself.
• Schmuck Bait: Right after Beth is killed merely because she didn't have children, the Rich Man asks the Black Man next to him to share his life story as well. The Black Man is savvy enough not to fall for that one, since it's already been established that people will be killed for the pettiest reasons.
  Black Man: Who, me? Fuck that man, I ain't saying shit. Y'all killed her and she did nothing wrong.
• Self-Disposing Villain: A lot of the characters reveal themselves to be very despicable people to the point where the others cannot stand them anymore and get themselves voted out.
  • The Tattooed Man, Raul Jimenez. He adamantly stands by his actions on beating his girlfriend when the Cop calls him out on it. This is enough to get everyone to vote for him to die.
  Raul Jimenez: What are you gonna do? Shoot me?
  Cop: I don't think I have to. (Cue Raul's death)
  • Shortly afterward, the Cop himself brings his own demise upon himself, when he reveals himself to be an unapologetic racist. Had he just kept his mouth shut for a little longer, the others probably would've voted for the Black Man he spouted racist insults towards instead.
• Senseless Sacrifice:
  • While the volunteers all count as such, since they're only delaying the inevitable, of particular note is the Little Girl. She offers to give her life to save the Pregnant Woman, only for Eric to use the distraction to take out the Pregnant Woman at the same moment.
  • Another one to note is the man who sacrifices himself so that Shaun won't have to, only for Shaun to immediately sacrifice himself the next round anyway.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: The unnamed black guy in the grey suit. He even dies elegantly.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Subverted. In the end, with only Eric left, the countdown restarts, causing him to believe that the entire contest was pointless and everyone was going to die anyway. However, the Pregnant Woman's fetus has just happened to fall into one of the participant spaces, causing the Circle to count it as a new participant. All he has to do is vote against it, and he wins. We see in the final scene that other winners have also survived.
• Slut-Shaming:
  • When the Rude Atheist manages to turn half of the circle against him, he tries to make the Beautiful Blonde Woman next to him a target by insinuating she's a porn star and ends up making her cry. This earns him the ire of everyone in the circle, and he's the next to die.
  • The Lesbian does a little of this when it's suggested the Pregnant Woman should be spared.
    Lesbian: So she's never heard of birth control, she gets to live?
• Smug Snake: The Lawyer. He deals with the situation by showing complete confidence about the prospects of his own survival, always ready with a sarcastic or witty comeback, but his luck runs out when he draws the ire of most other people by bullying a gay woman.
• The Sociopath: Eric. He seems like a nice person, but he's actually a ruthless Manipulative Bastard who pits everyone against each other and remorselessly kills a little girl and a pregnant woman (and her child). He is the quickest to assess the situation from a cold and logical perspective, and he doesn't lose his cool like a normal person in such a stressful situation. Other characters may or may not be sociopaths also, but Eric is a classic and archetypal example of one.
• Sole Survivor: The premise of the Circle runs on the idea that only one person in the circle can survive. Emphasis on can: if two people are left, they can only vote for each other. Thus, for anyone to survive at all one of the two will have to sacrifice themselves, which is statistically unlikely anyway since making it to the final few requires a fair bit of self-preservation and ruthlessness. In the end, Eric manages to be the only survivor after manipulating everyone else to either vote each other out or kill themselves.
• Suicide Pact:
  • Since there's no way of stopping the elimination process, it's suggested that people volunteer to sacrifice themselves. At least one person suggests that they all do it simultaneously, but since most of them do want to survive, this never transpires.
  • The black man and woman who had an affair decide to step off the platform at the same time when they tie.
• Sympathetic Villain, Despicable Villain: The Rich Man and the Bearded Man are both part of the Pragmatist group with the common goal of killing the Little Girl and the Pregnant Woman to give everyone else an equal chance at survival. However, the Bearded Man is far more personable (which also makes him a better manipulator) and ultimately seems to think of it as a Cold Equation; while he does not like having to kill either of them, he simply values his own survival more. Meanwhile, the Rich Man is a Hate Sink who presents several incredibly odious views and becomes increasingly unhinged and less sympathetic over the course of the film.
• Take Me Instead: The Husband asks the others to take him first so Wife can live when it comes down to it. Which is just a ploy by two unrelated people to survive longer. They're not even married.
• That Came Out Wrong: After the Lawyer is swiftly killed because he argued that they should kill the Lesbian before she molests her own daughter.
  Husband: What if he had a point?
  One-Armed Man: Just drop it already!
  Husband: No, not about the gay stuff.
• There Can Be Only One: The people in the room can't choose themselves, only other people, meaning there will be a single survivor after the elimination process has run its course. However, as someone points out later, when it comes down to the final two, it will inevitably be a Mutual Kill unless one person sacrifices themselves by not voting.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Shaun, which why he volunteers to kill himself. Also the Silent Man, who never votes for unexplained reasons.
• The Reveal:
  • A man and a woman lie about being husband and wife in order to get sympathy from the other members of the circle. They are eventually exposed by the Bearded Guy and the Lesbian. The man is then killed and the woman is blackmailed into joining the pragmatic side.
  • The ending, in which Eric reveals himself to the audience as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who'd been gaming the system for around half the film.
• Together in Death: The two having an affair choose to die together when they tie.
• Token Religious Teammate: The Minister...shocking, right?
• Too Dumb to Live: It's discovered pretty early on that the elimination is based on popular vote, but rather than keeping their mouth shut or outright lying for sympathy (as several smarter characters attempt), some of the people in the room behave like massive jerkasses, which almost always gets them killed:
  • When the Racist Cop accuses the Tattooed Crook of beating his girlfriend, the Tattooed Crook denies it and several people seem to be on the verge of taking his side — and then he not only admits it but says she "got what she deserved." He's promptly eliminated.
  • When the Black Man angrily claims the process of elimination has gotten racist, multiple people including a few other black characters say he's being overdramatic. Then the Racist Cop goes on a completely unprompted rant at him making several racist comments. He's eliminated moments later.
  • The Rude Atheist acts this way only for someone else to get eliminated. Then, moments later, he starts bullying the Pretty Girl and accusing her of being a porn actress, causing the survivors to finally eliminate him.
  • The Homophobic Lawyer manages to survive making a racist comment about illegal immigrants and just being an asshole multiple times as other people are eliminated for abrasive behavior. Rather than take this as a signal to shut up he goes on a tirade once the Lesbian reveals she has a wife and daughter, assuming everyone will vote for the Lesbian despite multiple people giving him very obvious unpleasant looks. The group finally gets sick of his crap and eliminates him.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Numerous characters reveal some ugly traits under stress and desperation, which usually causes the others to turn against them immediately.
• Uncertain Doom: Just about everyone shocked, given how fast their bodies are taken away without being examined and the ambigious nature of the ray, although the emphasis is a lot more on the "doom" than the "uncertain".
• Villainous Breakdown: The Rich Banker starts off reasonably composed, making decent arguments for sacrificing others without appearing too much like a jerkass, but as the game continues he becomes more unhinged and resorts to increasingly desperate means to survive, finally ending as a ranting and raving Hate Sink campaigning to murder a child to save his own skin.
• Villains Blend in Better: Eric avoids antagonizing people or calling attention to himself by not making sarcastic comments, rants or arguments about morals. He sometimes intervenes by steering people into targeting others but otherwise doesn't stand out. His soft voice, shirt that blends into the background, generally polite mannerisms and his position in the back row also help with this. Tellingly, the Black Man refers to the Marine as the leader of the protector camp when it was Eric who organized the faction in the first place before fading back into the background.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist:
  • The College Guy suggests killing off the oldest people in the room first to buy themselves more time and come up with some sort of plan to escape. Most of the room goes along with him when it's people in their eighties and seventies who are picked off, but when College Guy keeps lowering the age by targeting Cancer Survivor Lady (who insists that she's 52 but looks older), he pisses off enough people to be outvoted next.
  • The Bearded Man leads a campaign to kill off the Child and Pregnant Woman, because to do otherwise would be for everyone else to simply accept death.
• We Hardly Knew Ye:
  • Some characters are killed off after only having a few (or no) lines.
  • Inverted as well. Some characters, most notably Beth, are killed immediately after giving us a huge Infodump. Since a lot of people picked her after she revealed that she had no children, the other people in the room realize it's smarter to keep your mouth shut.
• Wild Card: The Fake Husband and Fake Wife. Both factions try to pressure and manipulate them and they both wind up being swing votes to take out members both the protector and pragmatist factions. After the fake relationship is discovered and the Fake Husband is eliminated the Fake Wife throws her lot in with the Bearded Man only to get Out-Gambitted by Eric and eliminated.
• Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: The Silent Man survives for an impressive length of time simply by saying and doing nothing. Eric is the only one to even notice this, using it to outwit another player. The Silent Man is then killed in the next round.
• Would Harm a Senior: As soon as people realize that the order of killing is based on voting, College Guy suggests killing off the oldest people first in order to buy themselves more time because it's "more fair", which the room begrudgingly agrees to. However, when they run out of truly elderly people, the room turns against him because it's clear he's just going to keep targeting people based on age.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Eric. When it is down to him, the Little Girl, and the Pregnant Woman, he tricks the Little Girl into killing herself to protect the Pregnant Woman and votes to kill the Pregnant Woman at the last second before either realize what's happening. When he ties with the latter's (still-living) fetus, he votes to kill the fetus as well.
  • Near the end of the film, the players are split into two groups. The protectors: a group of individuals who want to protect the Little Girl and the Young Pregnant Woman. The pragmatists: a group of individuals who want to kill the Little Girl and the Young Pregnant Woman in order to give everyone in the circle a better chance at survival.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child:
  • The Pregnant Lady actively refuses to target the Little Girl — not even to save her OWN child!
  • Despite the Fake Husband and Fake Wife initially voting with the pragmatists to tie a vote between the Little Girl and the Rich Banker, the Fake Wife doesn't vote on the runoff so that only the Rich Banker dies. She admits that she couldn't bring herself to do it. The Rich Banker being who he was probably helped.
• You Bastard!: Eric's rant at the aliens (including a defense of his actions), when he thinks he's going to be killed regardless, could just as well be directed at the audience, who have enjoyed 90 minutes of characters killing each other via mass vote.
  Eric: Of course. All that... all that for nothing? All that. What's the matter, huh? What? I'm not good enough for you? What? I'm not the one that you wanted? I'm exactly the same as everybody else in here! They all got to make their own choices! They chose to kill each other. That's what you wanted to see, right, huh? Well, there you go, congratulations. We're assholes. Fuck you!
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
  • Rich Guy, Bearded Man, and Black Guy form an alliance to eliminate either the Little Girl or the Pregnant Woman to increase their own chances of survival, but when it comes down to a tie between the Little Girl and Rich Guy, both of his allies immediately turn on him, offering to kill them both.
  • The Wife is convinced to join the pragmatic camp by the Bearded Man, but he later trades her life with Eric for the Little Girl.
• You Wake Up in a Room: Fifty people wake up in a pitch black room featuring a only a chess-like floor circled around a device in the center. It turns out that not only will someone die every two minutes, but the people in the room are voting who dies next by manipulating a mechanism on the floor.
• Younger Than They Look: The Cancer Survivor Lady is 52 but looks older due to her chemotherapy. It becomes a plot point when this gets her aggressively targeted by the College Guy as part of his plan to kill the elderly to buy others time, only for everyone to be so disgusted they eliminate College Guy instead.

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