Black Circle Boys (1997) User Reviews

The day Satan came to Northport, New York

[psychokillerindhouse · 5/10 · 6 July 2020]

Black Circle Boys (1997) is loosely based on real events filled with drugs, satanism & murder. On June 19, 1984, 17 year old Ricky Kasso lured a local boy into the woods in the middle of the night in Northport, New York. There, he beat, tortured & murdered 17 year old Gary Lauwers, while several friends watched on. When several friends asked why he murdered Gary, Ricky met each inquiry with a different excuse. After the murder, Ricky & a friend ran away, destination California. Not getting far, they returned to Northport where they were arrested and charged with Gary's murder. During his interview, Ricky implicated his friend as taking part in the murder. Although Ricky told his friend that he would recant his participation the next day, Ricky Kasso hung himself in his jail cell on July 7, 1984, leaving his friend to hold the bag. 6 months after the murder, the testimonies & alibi's of his activities during the time of the murder, Ricky's friend was acquitted of all charges. (Ricky's friend's name was never officially released, the name used in the local paper was mistakenly used, but was never retracted.)

In 2000, the movie "Ricky 6" follows is a factual account of the murder, taken directly from court transcripts, testimonies & interviews of those who were present & witnessed the horror that stole the innocence of the woods & would haunt the town of Northport forever.

In my opinion, the only reason I like this movie is because of Scott Bairstow, who played Kyle Sullivan & Eric Mabius, who played Shane Carver. Scott reminds me of Shane West, but in a cute sort of way. And Eric is so freaking gorgeous, in a trailer park white trash sort of way.

Although "Black Circle Boys" seemed to have a bigger budget to make, it takes so many liberties in the events that took happened that night in the woods. I would much rather watch "Ricky 6". It stays true to the horrific crime that shocked the entire community of Northport, New York, in 1984.

A guy version of "The Craft."

[LipsLogo · 5/10 · 16 June 1999]

Well, I honestly didn't find this movie to be anything spectacular. I'd call it a guy version of "The Craft." Which means it was more gory, more violent, etc. But it wasn't half as fun as watching "The Craft." For instance, none of the boys had supernatural powers, so don't expect any special effects in that area. Character development was minimal and the ending was unsatisfying. I do think there are some promising actors in this group though. Eric Mabius as the bad boy leader Shane Carver had an excellent performance and I think his acting was the best it could be considering the character he played. Also Tara Subkoff as Chloe has proven to be a well defined actress. Check out "All Of Me" to see her do a great job in a starring role. I'd recommend this movie if you're looking for something a bit scarier than your normal fair but nothing too deep.

Don't mess with the circle!

[pizowell · 6/10 · 23 March 2001]

Black Circle Boys is kind of the poor man's River's Edge. It started out with a guy in a new school trying to recover from the loss of friend. Along the way he comes in contact with Shane Carver. Leader of the Black Circle Boys. A group of satan worshiping dopers that want to start a band. Well it was kind of funny in a goofy way when it turned serious at the drop of a dime, DEAD serious. Bummer. Eric Mabius (Carver) gives a pretty good performance, but it really doesn't make sense. At the beginning it says it was based on a true story, but I think the writer or director made that up. Kind of creepy flick with some memorable and disturbing sequences. Sorry though guys, its no River's Edge. 6/10

A disturbing little film that's too close to reality

[jester-30 · 1 June 2003]

Here's a very disturbing little film. It's about a young guy called Kyle (Scott Bairstow White Fang 2, The Postman, Party of Five (tv)) whose family moves to a new (and boring) little town and he ends up attending a new high school -- trying to fit in, trying to deal with being the new guy and also trying to cope with the death of his best friend. He goes from A student to loser in forty-five minutes, giving up being a top athlete in exchange for the acceptance of a group of heavy metal wannabes and large amounts of drugs - virtually everything from pot to lsd to crack. His life spirals out of control. He ends up joining the BCB who are a small group of these high school losers who practice an invented brand of Satanism in the wooded state park behind the high school. The group's leader Shane (Eric Mabius (Party of Five (tv), Lawn Dogs, Welcome to the Dollhouse) is severely disturbed and influenced by drug dealer/fence Greggo (Donnie Wahlberg yeah, that one -- New Kids on the Block, baby) who is the local Temple of Set devil worshiper who recruits local high school losers and gets them to rob houses for him in exchange for drugs.

The plot moves along slowly as Kyle sinks into this realm of madness, but once there, it spins wildly out of control -- there is much violence (including sick satanic rituals where the Shane kills a cat and then they dig up a skeleton) and even murder. The acting is superb, and makes the overall effect of the film that much more disturbing.

Where are first it appears to be just another high school nostalgia film (heck, it looked like my high school), it becomes this horror film -- but way too realistic. One keeps asking, "where are the parents, where are the cops" as these lowlifes rampage through the town pillaging and killing and just making all sorts of mayhem.

In the end, Kyle must fight the demons which are pulling him under, and the second half of the film chronicles his attempts to overcome the darkness which threatens to consume and destroy him.

Why?

[cwatts-2 · 3/10 · 23 February 2005]

There is a line in the Oscar caliber film "Spawn" where the evil clown, says "How come Heaven gets all the good fellas, and we're left with the retards?" That pretty much sums up this film. Black Circle Boys is a story of a kid who is depressed because one of his dumb friends fell 10 feet and broke his neck while they were drunk, so instead of moving on with his life, like most teenagers, he decides to blame the world. From there the kid starts doing drugs and hanging out with the social rejects who just happen to worship Satan. Despite my previous comments, Black Circle Boys is really not a bad little film in aspects of writing, directing or cinematography, but the acting mainly by Scott Bairstow, the lead, is horrible to the point that its almost funny. His mannerism and acting abilities are limited to the fact that every time he is on screen, which is every 30 seconds in this film, he reminds me of a schizophrenic 12 yr old girl who is coked up on speed. Eric Mabius, on the other hand, known as Shane in the film does a great job playing an eccentric Satanist and is almost too good at playing the role. Overall this film has very, very little rewarding value and really is not worth your time, though if you're a Satanist or would like to see what a blood ritual is, go for it. Just remember this film is sh*tty. And you have been warned.

Blerghhhhhhh!!!!

[L_Santinha · 1/10 · 1 March 2001]

This must have been one of the worst films I have ever seen, even Titanic has better acting than this...Anyone who thinks about watching this movie:don´t do this to yourself, it were the most boring two hours of my life!!! It is not only the acting, also the image given of the Gothic Movement is absolutely exaggerated. This movie should be on the index!!!!!!!!!

True Story??

[rudebuzztard · 5/10 · 28 January 2003]

Hmm.. I have certain mixed feeling by this movie. At first the characters seem to be genuine, Kyle is a bit like me (drummer, only I perform much better). But after like 15 minutes this movie takes a nose dive. All the people, the so called "headbangers" are just completely s*****. No real metalhead would do stuff like this. And the band****, what kind of crap is that?. They make some kind of 'obvious connection' (in their eyes) between metalheads and metal music and the use of satanic rituals.. that is one thing that pisses me off. The second is, if you want to state that they are metalheads, let them look like metalheads.. especially Kyle does not look like one.

Eric Mabius is the guy that made the movie bareable, he is the only character that makes a little sense to me. Plus the direction is pretty ok, nice dark shots and the beginning sequence is cool too. But this is not going to dave this movie.

I am sick an tired of these kind of movies, I know why they do this, in 'goody goody- land' (America) you can;t make movies about everyone anymore, without being offensive, so they just use a musical scene instead, because it's pretty vague. Well I can tell you, gothic people are not like this, I listen satanic music as well, and I use magick sometimes, and it has nothing to do with evil and violence. This guy, Shane, he's just a psychotic man, that's what he is, the fact that he likes metal music or dresses in black has nothing to do with this. Why don't they make movies about the truth? about the real killers, the people with guns, corporations, black people, poor people, insane people. Movies like this will only keep the vision people have about metalheads intact, and that is a shame, because we are not like this. I am giving Eric Mabius 2 points, the direction 2 points and the story 1 point. So I still give it a 5 out of ten. It's not really bad, just remember it is not like this in real life.

"Based" on a true story

[disturbedtool68 · 5/10 · 16 May 2006]

Truth is Better than Fiction - It's too bad they didn't tell the real story that the movie is based on. They could have used the same actors and it would have made a great film. For anyone interested, there is a book written about the story called "Say You Love Satan" . This is not a spoiler, but I will tell you that the main difference between the movie and the true story is that the "Rory" character was not a mentally challenged wannabe who traded Shane's mescaline to buy him a guitar. He stole the mesc and never paid it back. Anywho, it's a great book for anyone interested. That all being said, I still think Eric Mabius and Scott Bairstow were great.

Disturbing

[tseades · 3/10 · 30 December 1999]

This is a movie that has very good acting, but the story is dark and disturbing. Cult activity and satan worship. Just High school kids with identity crisis. I give this movie a 3 on a 10 point scale. It was entertaining, provoked thought, just not a film to give you a warm feeling inside.

had potential but falls flat

[MundaneNoodle · 5/10 · 13 June 2000]

This movie could have been great. It looked original; a peek into teenage occult. The acting wasn't bad, but the movie needs a major script reworking.

*spoilers ahead* It started off strong, but it instantly turned dumb when they tossed a cat around by it's tail and threw it against a tree. Darrr. I left the room and came back for the last fifteen minutes. I'm sorry, but you call that an ending? What was resolved? Nothing!

A great movie made even better by the presence of Eric Mabius

[5ive4eva · 10/10 · 3 July 1999]

I absolutely love this movie. It is not at all like any other movie I would list as a favorite and yet, for some reason, it remains high on my list ever since I discovered it while wandering through Blockbuster a few months ago. What makes this movie so great is, hands down, the performance of Eric Mabius. He is so perfect as Shane Carver that even if the movie sucked I would probably still watch it. He makes you(at least in my opinion) feel sympathy for Shane and brings a great deal of humanity to what could have been a totally one-dimensional, stereotypical character.

Better than most, but don't expect too much.

[stooge999x · 7/10 · 12 April 2004]

I have to admit I really liked this movie, especially since I was so sure it was going to be pretty awful. And it very well could have been, if it wasn't for the great cast of unknowns in this film. Eric Mabius went on to do more high profile work in movies like Cruel Intentions and Resident Evil, but I think his performance as the psycho bad boy Shane Carver in this film outshines them all. Scott Bairstow also does a great job as the good boy turned bad because of the death of a close friend. It'd be nice to see him in something else. I agree wholeheartedly with the other reviews of this film, in that it starts strong and has great direction, but the ending is very cliche, turning into a few deaths here and there, and a convenient turnaround for the main character. Despite this fact, it is still an enjoyable movie. Also, the very good, albeit small part played by Donnie Wahlburg makes me wonder why he doesn't get more roles, as opposed to his no talent brother Marky Mark. Also, Lisa Loeb is listed in the opening credits, but I couldn't place her until the 3rd time I saw this movie. She plays "Angry Woman" and is only in the movie for a few seconds, and is gone faster than you can say "cameo".

not awful, but not too good either

[enfluenza · 4/10 · 6 January 2001]

The guy who plays Shane Carver in the movie is an okay actor and I can see him getting roles as a villain/drug addict/gang member in future movies. The rest of the cast was as bland as can be. The only other character that is even a little amusing is the other black circle boy. Not Rory but the one who laughs a lot. anyway don't rent this film. that would be a waste of money. just wait for it to come on HBO or something and if your drunk or wasted or just plain bored check it out.Don't expect much though.

btw the ending sucks.

The build-up for the film is good and the acting is strong, but it becomes a run of the mill slasher flick

[Adam E · 29 July 1999]

"Black Circle Boys" seems promising enough. It's about a group of devil worshipping band members led by the devilish Eric Mabius who take in an outcast (Scott Bairstow), broken by the death of his best friend. The kid is cool with them, often taking bad drugs and p***ing off people, until he starts seeing their more violent sides. The film is worth watching for the strong performances from the cast, the script is realistic for the first two-thirds, and the low budget, grainy look makes things more creepier. The problem with the film is that the after an hour and fifteen minutes into the film, the screenwriter had no idea what to do with "Black Circle Boys" and turns into a silly slasher flick, with all of the typical horror movie cliches thrown in. The ending especially is a big cop-out for what seems like a great film. Overall, I recommend it for late night viewing, and if you're into independent films, it's a very interesting one, but the finale of the film is a big letdown and left me disappointed.

Warning!! Don't waste your time!

[randomizmatrix · 1/10 · 14 January 2002]

This is the all time bad movie that my boyfriend and I use to compare all other bad movies. Even when seeing a horrifically awful movie, we always say, "atleast it wasn't as bad as Black Circle Boys". What can one say about such an awful movie. The plot was pointless, you feel nothing for any of the characters, all satanism brings them is a bad garage band and alot of drugs in the woods. What makes this movie so bad isn't the acting it is the writing. This movie could have had a good b-horror movie premise, but instead it is reduced to adolescent mewling between bong hits in the woods. In summary...stay away...stay very far away. I feel sorry everytime I am in the video store and see that Black Circle Boys has been rented...it means some poor shnook is wasting almost 2 hours of his/her life.

MY SWEET SATAN was much better!

[Logan-22 · 5/10 · 20 October 2002]

An amateur, lacklustre retelling of the true story of "Acid King" Ricky Kasso, who killed a kid in the woods by stabbing him and bashing his head in after making him say, "I love Satan!" This film is poorly put together, has a terrible non-ending, and completely muddles the facts in the case, padding the film out with boring nonsense. There are few adults in this film, and that hurts its credibility. Where are the parents? This story was done much more honestly and professionally (as well as graphically) by Jim Van Bebber in his classic short film, MY SWEET SATAN. BLACK CIRCLE BOYS is a boring, pointlessly homo-erotic version with little basis in fact and only minor entertainment value. The low budget of the film glaringly shows through in every scene, whereas in Van Bebber's even more low budget short, he uses his micro-budget as an asset, achieving a disturbing, quasi-documentary quality to his film that BLACK CIRCLE BOYS never comes close to. BLACK CIRCLE BOYS is bland but not terrible, and is one of the better films A-Pix has released on video (most everything they put out is beyond horrible, so I generally avoid anything on that label). However, if you want a much gorier, creepy and honest version of the Ricky Kasso case (with only a few minor details changed), you can't go wrong with Jim Van Bebber's MY SWEET SATAN. It's brutal and believable!

Apparently Directing Actors To Sacrifice Helpless Animals Make Boys Feel Like Men?!? Beware If You Have Any Humanity& Kindness In Your Heart!

[tesswysko · 1/10 · 12 August 2021]

I found this on Tubi, and with one look at the cast, I was surprised I hadn't seen it before. Well, I got about halfway through, and honestly it was like trudging through mud, because: the plot was slow, they talked around things I.e. They kept talking about his Dad going to secret meetings at night and something that happened 8 months ago to someone named Terry- but they aren't even giving HINTS is it important or not?; the colors are so muted and grainy- someone obviously didn't take care of the film, but most of that's original; they keep talking about their band, but they don't have drums, and haven't had a single practice (I'm a music Promoter, I've been in the music business since High School. We saw wanna be's like that ALL THE TIME, begging for stage time, or to use our gear, etc. But they never wanted it BAD ENOUGH, they just wanted to look cool, and keep up the fake guise of being Satan worshippers, because they were under the misconception that THAT was what Metalheads do;) BUT WORST OF ALL, the thing that made me quit watching IMMEDIATELY, is the EXACT SAME THING that made me quit watching Boondock Saints!

As a director once said, "The number once rule in a (horror) movie is that you hurt the people, not the animals!" That has stuck with me since I heard it, because some directors are saying they are doing it for artistic purposes, and that it's necessary... But SO MANY other movies get their points across just fine without traumatizing their audiences! Here you have a director coming right out and DENOUNCING IT!!! If these other directors, (writers, producers,) say for THEM it is NECESSARY to use animal abuse, violence, sacrifice, or murder, then what they're REALLY saying is that they're TOO LAZY, STUPID, WEAK, OR UNSKILLED to make a movie without it! We need to AVOID movies like this when we can, to send a clear message to the industry: "We Don't Want To See This Filth!" We need to show them the power the consumer has!

Too often we are forced into situations out our control. We have a man in our town who can't be right in the head, he shows up to every occasion with a picket sign, which has a big photo of an aborted baby on it! Now the LAST thing any parent wants her 6yo. Child to see at the parade is THAT on a 5ft tall poster on the side of a van! He drove by at least 3X! I clutched my boy to my chest, wiped his tears, rocking him, trying to think of an explanation that's not a lie, but also not TMI that will further scare him and haunt his dreams. I looked up, keepthe jerk was laughing at us, and blew me a kiss! Sick people like that have the freedom to demonstrate, so it's hard to protect our families from that, but we CAN protect them from abusive movies! I'm all about horror movies, but hurting defenseless animals is just WRONG!

I'd rather have a battery acid enema than have to watch this film again.

[glich · 1/10 · 7 July 1999]

BLACK CIRCLE BOYS is without a doubt one of the worst pieces of crap I have ever had the misfortune to rent. It's no surprise why this never had a theatrical release. The acting is on par with a High School play. The direction is almost non-existent. There is no discernable visual point of view. The cinematography is apalling. The day scenes are ludicrously overlit and the night scenes are so dark that you can't even see what the hell is going on half the time. It's almost as if they couldn't afford lights!! Lastly, the screenplay is schizophrenic. It should have been a story about how a group of outcasts bands together by participating in the occult and how that participation leads them down a path of murder and mayhem. Instead we are treated to a group of punks who spend most of the movie running around breaking things and beating people up or getting high in the woods. Yawn. Don't waste a minute of your time on this amateur garbage. If you want to see a movie about teens and the occult then go and rent THE CRAFT.

So bad it's good.

[asilvahalo · 2/10 · 23 July 2002]

Oh, the joys of telecinema. This is, on one level, one of the worst movies I've ever seen, not so much from an acting perspective as from a script/plot perspective. Supposedly based on a true story, it's more like a male version of The Craft, only with a gay Donnie Wahlberg. On another level, though, it's practically a parody of itself and all those anonymous diaries you find in the bookstore about kids who fall into lives of drug abuse and Satanism.

The movie is meant to be serious! And frightening! But it's more the sort of movie you'll want to get drunk with your friends and laugh at, particularly if you've got slightly twisted senses of humour

A superb good-bad movie.

And that Mabius kid's kinda cute.

A mild surprise for a movie about a cult gang.

[emm · 6/10 · 29 April 1999]

This isn't real bad for a cheapie that covers the life of a "super-exclusive" brotherhood that is addicted to drugs, alcohol, and violence. The faded colors appear like it was filmed in 1976, and the dark, gritty feeling illustrates the fact that Matthew Carnahan has some strong directing potential in his part of creating a sense of living a disturbing society. Remember, this is an indie effort I'm talking about here. Please don't expect this to be another blood-curled horror picture that would make the vote count rise to rapid pulse highs because this is an actual true story providing facts and figures, and it has a plot that is deep and moving. Two very interesting names in this film: Dee Wallace-Stone (E.T.) is Kyle's mother; the woman shouting and hollaring in a wild hangout scene is Grammy-nominated singer Lisa Loeb in a five-second cameo without the eyeglasses. Plus maybe a couple others, too. Why are they in this movie??? Well, I wouldn't rate it so high to call this an impressive work of art. It is a mildly entertaining surprise for a limited crowd who's got the intimate appeal to movies that portray gang violence. Fairly good, though.

About what you'd expect at 1:00 AM on HBO...

[rkreitlein · 2/10 · 5 June 2000]

After watching another excellent episode of the series "OZ" tonight on HBO, I decided to hang around and watch the next feature that came on, which happened to be this movie. I usually don't watch B movies with no name casts, but decided to roll the die with this one. It wasn't really BAD, but it wasn't anything that should ever achieve cult classic status. The only name in the cast I recognize is Donnie Wahlberg...geez, hope his agent can get the former New Kid on the Block some better roles in the future. I particularly didn't like the way this movie ended. I suppose we are to assume Kyle returns to his former all American status as a swimmer, but such a feat would be absolutely laughable in the real world, given the amount of drugs and smokes the kid downed in this movie. I don't imagine that you maintain too much endurance and stamina when you've spent a year sucking nicotine (and worse.

Better than you'd think

[Lolamoon · 10/10 · 6 July 1999]

I just saw Black Circle Boys less than a week ago and I don't think I'll ever see another movie that can compare to it.The acting is wonderful, all the characters seems so real. Eric Mabius(Shane) and Heath Lourwood (Munn) in my opinion were the best in the movie but all the acting was so good. Shane and Munn's moods switch from scene to scene so often that you don't know what to think of them. But by the end you can't help but feel sorry for them all. This really is worth renting or buying.

You've got to burgle a house or two

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 2 March 2018]

Although this film was nothing terribly outstanding it was a bit better than the usual teen slasher flick. Scott Bairstow is having a hard time dealing with the death of a younger brother and he and his parents moved to another town where he can finish up high school anonymously so to speak. This one time jock falls in with a crowd of Goths who are into Satan worship and are led by a charismatic Artful Dodger type played by Eric Mabius. The gang also has a Fagin in former New Kid on the Block and future detective Danny Reagan Donnie Wahlberg. He supplies them recreational pharmaceuticals, they break into houses and steal for him.

It takes a while to get his eyes wide open, but eventually Bairstow figures out that these Black Circle Boys are a truly evil bunch and that Mabius is a Charles Manson in training.

Lots of praise has been given to those already mentioned. But for me I liked Chad Lindberg who was rather touching as wannabe who wants so much to be accepted by Mabius that he goes out on his own and screws up royally. He pays a very heavy price.

Definitely Black Circle Boys is a bit better than most cinema of this type.

An incredible movie

[Azazel-5 · 5 June 2000]

I usually do not flip through movies I have never heard of and stop and watch them, but I turned Black Circle Boys on and for some reason i couldn't turn it off. It was a movie that just kept my attention. An excellent cast made this movie even more the better. I am so amazed by this movie that I want to go out and buy it.