Ghost Story

I remember watching this TV series on occasion back in the 1970s. Unfortunately since it's been 20-25 years since I've seen it, I no longer remember any of the episodes. The only thing I remember clearly is the sound effect that was played whenever a ghost was present. Before reading about this on the IMDB I did not know that it was later re-named Circle of Fear. That was new to me. To me it was always Ghost Story. I remember that I always found the show interesting enough to watch it till the end. If you can find this on video (It's extremely hard to find), I highly recommend it. I did find one source for it on video, some years ago and purchased one episode that starred John Astin and Patty Duke Astin. This episode was from when the series had been re-named Circle of Fear. Very entertaining if you can find it. Maybe some day the Sci-Fi Channel will pick it up. Who knows?

Despite, typical seventies TV cinematography, marred by over-lighting, and bland paint by numbers art direction, (the show often looks like an episode of "Qunicy"--hardly ideal for supernatural horror--just imagine, ten years earlier it might have had the glorious monochrome of "Boris Karloff's 'Thriller') this program is, nonetheless, unjustly forgotten. I saw it in its original prime time incarnation and though it can't approach the sophistication of Britain's "Journey to the Unknown," and had more duds than hits, several episodes were standouts, and the entire series needs to again see the light of day.

The pilot, (entitled, "The New House") aired in March, 1972, and featured Sebastion Cabot as the program's host, grandly swaggering about an old world luxury hotel, as he expounds upon his fondness for the glories of earlier times. He then spots Barbara Parkins, (never more beautiful than here--her close-ups are lovely) the protagonist of the teleplay at hand, seated at the bar, and expresses his doubts as to her future happiness (with good reason as you will soon see!) All this serves as the springboard for her saga--a tale of witchcraft--with elements not unlike "Crowhaven Farm". This episode, despite being marred by some excessive lovey-dovey dialog between Parkins and on screen husband David Birney, is effectively rendered, and surprises in the power of its extremely bleak denouement.

The show changed its title to "Circle of Fear" in Jan. 1973, though the stories continued to be supernatural in character. Amongst the better "Circle of Fear"s were:

1) Still lovely Eleanor Parker's riveting performance as a tortured mother in a splendid yarn of spectral siblings, "Half a Death" written by the accomplished Henry Slesar.

2) The Janet Leigh episode, "Death's Head" which contains a deliciously foreboding visit to a seaside carnival gypsy, who later turns up in a woozy nightmare sequence.

3) The story depicting Martin Sheen and Kim Darby as newlyweds coping with a malefic toy horse.

4) The always superb Shirley Knight, (in an outstanding Emmy worthy characterization) as a diffident young typist who finds new meaning in the phrase, "office politics" in "Legion of Demons." This episode is extremely provocative and disturbing in its images and dialog, some of which make it hard to see how it got past the censors--and is arguably the best written of the series.

Unfortunately, the series had more bombs than clicks, which may account for its premature demise. Still, tastes vary, and there are doubtless viewers out there who will enjoy the Helen Hayes, Melvynn Douglas, and Tab Hunter episodes as well. As for the trivia-ites, note that the Jody Foster episode features the Samantha and Darren Stevens house from "Bewitched."

The best thing you can say about a show that tells scary stories is whether or not any of the stories, indeed, scared you. And, in this instance, they did.

"Ghost Story" (best known by me as "Circle of Fear"), told some deceptively simple stories about people in frightening circumstances, some deserving it, others not, and all of them were well-mounted in my humble-yet-informed opinion.

Obviously, some talented directors were on hand in their early days (Donner, Moxey, Rich) and some of the stories did indeed frighten the heck out of me, even if I was just seven at the time (maybe THAT'S what's wrong with me now. Oh well...).

The episodes I remember best were as follows: a grandfather who gives his grand-daughter a voodoo-like doll house; a man kills his wife and her lover then sees their bodies rise up on his TV; murder victim seeks revenge through donated body parts already on their recipients... there are more but it freaks me out just remembering them.

Sure, they may have been corny and dumb but they did their job and were effectively scary. And yes, they SHOULD be back on the air (I think some episodes are already in smaller-market syndication); Sci-Fi Channel, are you paying attention? There's money to be made here....

Eight stars for "Ghost Story". Frightful fun - just turn down the lights and grab you popcorn...and maybe a pillow to hide behind.

I very much enjoyed watching Circle of Fear. Being only 7 at the time, there was one episode that has stayed with me to date. Thanks to the episode "Dark Vengeance" I still have a small fear of wooden toy horses. The "scary" stuff on TV today does not compare with the horror shows of 70's such as Circle of Fear. I would be overjoyed if copies of these episodes were avaible for purchase.

I liked this series. The one episode I remember best is "Concrete Captain," where the body of an old sailor is entombed in a block of concrete. He was killed by the grandfather of one of the characters in the story (I think it was a mercy killing) by having a harpoon chucked through his heart. The top of the harpoon still sticks out of the concrete. Then the ghost of the sailor comes back to haunt everyone.

I also liked the theme music. I actually recorded it off the TV one night with my first cassette recorder. I still have that tape.

When they changed it to "Circle of Fear," I thought it was a mistake. The theme music was dumb, too.