Circle Line: The Monster in Our Midst

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Taking the route less travelled may not always be the best idea, as PHOEBE RAE finds out in Singapore’s first monster movie

Circle Line, the first monster movie produced locally, promises a level of visual effects never seen before in local cinema. Yet, monster movie buffs familiar with the genre from the classic Frankenstein to the quintessential indie favourite Pan’s Labyrinth, may find it disturbingly familiar.

As the name implies, Circle Line is set in Singapore’s transport system. The movie revolves around Yiling (Jessica Liu) and Lucas (Nathaniel Ng), a mother-son duo trapped underground with a monster lurking deep inside the all-too-familiar tunnels, together with a group of strangers.

They work together to outrun the monster – known to be a hybrid of a rat and lizard – and make it through the night as duty engineers in the control room desperately investigate and try to rescue the commuters.

Actor Nathaniel Ng, 9, recounts one of the toughest stunts he had to pull o thus far: “I actually had to run, jump on a stool, get up on the car engine and dive into the car!”

The film is spoken in Mandarin, with the Chinese title (生死环线) loosely translating to ‘loop of life and death’.

Produced with Taipan Films and mm2 Entertainment, Circle Line is director JD Chua’s debut feature film. Chua has directed for web series Click, short film Bad Throttle and provided support in Hollywood productions like action thriller Blackhat and the sci-fi horror film Dark Skies.

In the four years of its making, the film has seen various teams coming together to build upon its high standard of production. The monster was designed by Victor Marin, who worked together with the creature designer for Pacific Rim.

Argentinian visual effects company ONER Vfx, whose production credits include the Academy Award winning film The Secret in Their Eyes, was also brought on to work on this film in its initial stages.

“We want to offer them... something that is more unique, more entertainment-driven, more mainstream but with a higher quality like Korean films,” says Mr Juan Foo, producer of Circle Line.

Taking inspiration from the highly-acclaimed Korean movie The Host, the film aims to be more than just a heartfelt, action-packed thrilling drama.

Juan says: “There’s also some social commentary in the film, especially for people concerning themselves with transport, with putting systems in place and having checks and balances.”

“[It’s] about process versus procedure, doing the right thing versus doing things right... I think any Singaporean that sees this and understands the story will know that it is revolving around things that we face every day,” he adds.

EDIT: RELEASE DATE TBC DUE TO COVID-19