Full Circle (1977 film)

Harry Bromley Davenport wrote the original screen adaptation of American novelist Peter Straub's Julia (1975), titling the screenplay The Link.[7] Dave Humphries retooled Davenport's version, and retitled it When the Wind Blows before director Richard Loncraine chose to retitle the film as Full Circle.[8]

After finding little success convincing British film companies to fully fund the project, producer Peter Fetterman acquired capital from Canada's Astral Media—a radio broadcasting conglomerate—to produce the feature.[9] "I managed to persuade a group of musicians, their management, and accountants to put up 400,000 dollars between them," Fetterman recalled. "So now I had 500,000 from Canada, 400,000 dollars from England and I could raise 10,000 dollars in small units from private investors."[9]

Fetterman initially traveled to Los Angeles to cast a "bankable" actress for the lead role of Julia, but this attempt proved unfruitful.[9] After learning that Mia Farrow was performing in stage plays in London at the time, he returned to the United Kingdom and approached her backstage after a performance and asked her to appear in the film.[10] Farrow, who at the time was mainly working in theatre, was reluctant to appear in the film, but ultimately convinced by Fetterman.[10]

Filming of Full Circle took place in London over a period of seven weeks[9] between November and December 1976[11][12] on a budget of CA$1.1 million.[13] The production was reportedly rushed, as the film had to be finished before the end of the tax year of its Canadian production company.[14] Because of this, the screenplay, location scouting, and casting had to be completed within a three-week period.[14] Actress Mia Farrow shot the film whilst also performing in a stage production of Ivanov by the Royal Shakespeare Company.[15]

Director Richard Loncraine stated that the shoot was at times tense, and noted that Farrow, whom he described as "an eccentric" but "well-mannered woman," disappeared for two days after suffering a nervous breakdown, which temporarily halted the production.[16] At the time, Farrow had conflicting feelings about appearing in another horror film after Rosemary's Baby (1968), and had intended to approach the material as though it revolved around a woman's psychological breakdown, rather than an outright supernatural horror narrative.[17]

The film's interior sequences were shot in a home in South Kensington, while the home's exterior was filmed using a different house elsewhere in London.[18]

The original cut of the film as it was shown at the 1977 Marché du Film was approximately six minutes longer than the final theatrical cut, and featured several alternate sequences.[19] One of the most notable differences was the fate of Magnus: In the original cut, his character is not killed while breaking into Julia's home, and instead leaves the house angrily before departing to a social club.[19] The film was recut after its screening at the Marché du Film to remediate what the producers felt were pacing issues that made it less "marketable".[20]

Upon its screening at the Avoriaz Film Festival, the film received "rave reviews" from numerous French film critics and won the Grand Prix prize for best feature.[14] Following its premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival, The Guardian noted: "Some of the technical work is first-class, as are many of the supporting performances (you'll either like or hate Mia Farrow according to taste). But the film would have been more interesting as a proper study of a woman "under the influence" than it is a slightly more derivative tale of evil working from beyond the grave."[32] Film critic Derek Malcolm, writing after the film's May 1978 release in the United Kingdom, praised Farrow's performance, as well as the film's cinematography and atmosphere, summarizing that the film "is well worth seeing, even if it does suffer from those two well-known British cinematic deficiencies—lack of a really clear purpose and the narrative drive to go with it."[33] Tom Milne of The Observer alternately felt the film was predictable, and that director Loncraine's "piling on the emptily brooding stylistics does little to help matters."[34]

Elizabeth Smith of the Montreal Gazette praised Farrow's performance as "harrowing," adding that "the tension is strong throughout, never a let-up or a breather...  you'll leave the movie drained of emotion. It's a terrifying film."[35] Variety noted that the film "has a fairly tight script which, in first half at least, builds up scary tensions nicely. There's a performance by Mia Farrow which is somewhat reminiscent of Rosemary's Baby, and enough supernatural trappings to please those who are fascinated by the occult."[36] Ernest Leogrande of the New York Daily News gave the film a one-and-a-half-star rating out of four, writing that it "seems to be structured around the themes of expiation and forgiveness... [but] it's hard to get interested in the fate of the pallid Julia."[29]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times was unimpressed by the film, writing that it "manages to draw on every horror movie cliche imaginable and still make very little sense...  As directed by Richard Loncraine, The Haunting of Julia is virtually scareless, and the camera angles provide advance tipoffs to the few frightening episodes that punctuate the dull ones."[37] The Washington Post's Judith Martin gave the film a similarly unfavorable review, writing that the opening scene "has more of the real essence of horror to it than any number of walks down dark passages to the accompaniment of jangly background music. Unfortunately, after this one fresh approach, the film turns to dark, noisy walks," concluding that it "lacks the psychological logic of a good ghost story."[28]

In his book Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956-1976 (2010), Gary A Smith describes the film as a "dark and depressing "arthouse" horror film."[1] Conversely, Jonathan Rigby, in English Gothic (2000), discusses the various Anglo-Canadian co-productions of the period, saying that "Much the best of these offerings is Richard Loncraine's quietly disturbing Full Circle", noting also that "Loncraine makes the most of memorable cameos from fine character actors", and concluding that "the elegiac atmosphere Loncraine conjures up ... is almost tangible."[38]

Media Home Entertainment released the film on VHS in the United States in 1981 under The Haunting of Julia title.[39] It was re-released on VHS in 1988 by Magnum Entertainment.[40]

In January 2023, the Australian label Imprint Films announced they were releasing a limited edition Blu-ray edition of the film, along with its original musical score on CD, on 26 April 2023.[23] The American distributor Scream Factory subsequently announced a 4K UHD Blu-ray edition, which was released in North America on 18 April 2023,[41] while the British Film Institute announced a 4K UHD Blu-ray scheduled for release in the United Kingdom on 24 April 2023.[42] The French distributor Le Chat qui Fume announced in January 2023 a 4K UHD Blu-ray edition due for release in July 2023.