A relic from the 1970sa self-help record purporting to teach the listener to reach your full potentialstirs up frightening chaos for two sisters in Black Circle, a 2018 horror film thats well worth seeking out now that its streaming on Shudder. Made in Sweden by Spanish writer-director Adrin Garca Bogliano (2022s La Exorcista), Black Circle plunges you right into the woo-woo by opening on a film clip purportedly taken from a correspondence course peddled by the Stockholm Institute for Magnetic Research. The technique its pushing is sort of hypnotism taken to the extreme, and its claims are fantastic. Who wouldnt want to become the best version of themselves by simply purging all the bad energy and intrusive thoughts theyve been clutching onto since childhood? Its a tempting proposition for Celeste (Felice Jankell), a twentysomething whose life is currently circling the existential drain. Shes just broken up with her boyfriend and been fired from her summer job, and writers block has prevented her from even starting a long-looming school paper. So when her sister Isa (Erica Midfjll)who she hasnt seen in some timeinvites her to stop by her office, Celeste is impressed by Isas big-shot job and upbeat attitude. Things are going wildly well, Isa tells her, and she wants to help Celeste turn her own life around. Though Celeste bristles a bit at her pushy sister, thats replaced by confusion when Isa hands her a record and tells her to play the B-side as you fall asleep. The effects are life-changing, she promises, and they all stem from this weird LP she found among junk left behind by grandmas cousin Lundstrom, who until his passing was the orphaned sisters only other living relative. Celeste is skeptical of what feels like a cult come-on, but she gives it a spin. The next morning, she sits bolt upright, sprints to her laptop, and triumphantly pounds out page after page of her paper. Naturally, theres a catch to this miraculous good fortune, and as Black Circle builds toward showing exactly what that catch looks like, the film divides itself into short chapters, not unlike a correspondence course might. It also jumps back into the film-within-a-film to layer in some exposition about magnetic hypnosis, delivered in optimistic terms that dont match the increasingly uneasy results we see with the sisters. The technique guides a person in offloading the mental baggage thats been holding them backbut once expunged, said baggage takes the form of an Ethereal Double, a sort of doppelganger that gradually draws more and more energy from its original source. Shudder Thats disturbing enough even before Black Circle introduces another layer of mythology, involving creatures that intervene if an Ethereal Double gets too comfortable in the human realm. Thats an aspect of the story that doesnt get enough fleshing out, but Black Circle is otherwise deeply invested in its subversion of New Age psychology. As their lives become choked with paranoid delusions that just might be real, Isa and Celeste track down the woman who released the record, a psychic who suffered her own tragedy in learning the harmful effects of magnetic hypnosisand who grimly springs into action to help its latest victims. Though the reverse exorcism ritual that takes over the films third act drags a bit, Black Circle has a unique energy and self-assured, often psychedelic visual style that allows it to carve out a unique space in the realm of cursed-media films. But unlike the characters in, for instance, The Ringwho watch a haunted video tape for entertainment, not knowing itll seal their doom Black Circles sisters intentionally, albeit naively, open themselves up to the LPs mind-warping capabilities. The resulting journey brings plenty of terror, but it also illustrates Black Circles deepest theme: you gotta do the work necessary to move past the negativity thats accumulated in your life, rather than hoping to heal by just wishing the bad stuff away.Black Circle is now streaming on Shudder. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.