While Ferris wheels can be a lot of fun, they can also be frightening as proven in Nikhil Bhagat’s fantastic short horror film The Wheel, set to be released this February.
The film finds a woman (Molly Buecher) alone in a big empty house while her husband is on a trip shopping for antiques to sell in their shop. When he sends home an old toy Ferris wheel he has no idea of the terror it will unleash on his wife.
The first thing I noticed right off to bat about The Wheel is its fantastic cinematography, rich look, and great camera work, which is top-notch and better than we usually see in short films.
The acting from Molly Buecher was great and she really sells her fear which feels authentic. The dark entity who appears in the film is creepy as hell and has a killer look and design that we haven’t seen a million times before.
This terrifying tale was shot on location in San Pedro in a 102-year-old house with a crew of film veterans who have worked with genre icons such as James Wan, Jordan Peele, and Mike Flanagan and it shows. These folks know what they are doing. Pete Gvozdas, who has edited films like The Conjuring 3, The Purge, and Autopsy of Jane Doe produces The Wheel that features cinematography by “Haunting of Bly Manor’s” James Kniest. Insidious and The Conjuring franchises’ Janet Ingram served as Costume Designer. Sound supervisor Trevor Gates (Get Out) and Colorist John Daro (Annabelle: Creation) also worked on The Wheel.
The Wheel is entertaining, well-paced, executed, and scary in all the right places. I could really see The Wheel as a feature adaptation which isn’t surprising, Bhagat’s short As They Continue To Fall has now been picked up for a feature adaptation by James Wan and Eric Heisserer.
