Every now and then impressive short films come along to scare the cheese out of the viewer and some even receive the feature film treatment. For The Wheel, this could be the case if it has enough exposure to bring the hellish circus it proposes to town.

A woman selling antiques receives a package from her out-of-town husband: a vintage musical decorative Ferris wheel with a circus-style print. The husband mentions over the phone that the family he bought it from wanted to get rid of it in a hurry, but no seemed to wonder why. The woman decides to play it for a while to see if it works but, like any story with a vintage toy, once you play it you have to deal with whatever you unleash.

The Wheel is a basic short film with a lot to say— it may leave you wanting more considering that not enough is said about the origins of this new cursed artifact. Otherwise, it’s well crafted— it adds a lot of attention to the details of the short. It still has some flaws on the editing side but the physical aspect is flawless. And even though it isn’t flawless, the directing is superb. It starts in a long one-shot following the main character around for a couple of minutes and then it cuts to different angled takes— and each take gives a different stressful emotion to the viewer as it builds the tension higher. Kudos to Molly Beucher for delivering a great performance and to the makeup crew for creating the creepiest corpse-like creature— the new boss of my nightmares.

The premise of The Wheel is just like a fair ride, it starts in the cheeriest way possible, then you ride and you’re sick of it but it keeps coming to pull you back in every time because it’s there, it’s big, it’s powerful and it passes of looking innocent when it could be the most dangerous experience of your life.

9 OUT OF 10 CARNIVAL TICKETS