GHOST STORY (AKA CIRCLE OF FEAR) (1972-1973)
THE COMPLETE SERIES
Label: Via Vision Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 1162 Minutes
Audio: English PCM 2.0
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Directors: Paul Stanley, Richard Donner, Don McDougall, Walter Doniger, Leo Penn, David Lowell Rich, Leslie H. Martinson, Daryl Duke, Arnold Laven, Robert Day, James Neilson, Herschel Daugherty, Alexander Singer, Charles Dubin, James H. Brown
Cast: Jason Robards, Janet Leigh, Helen Hayes, Angie Dickinson, Gena Rowlands, Jodie Foster, Geraldine Page, Martin Sheen, John Astin, Patty Duke, Carolyn Jones, Susan Day, Stella Stevens, Karen Black and more.
Ghost Story (AKA Circle of Fear) was a single-season horror anthology that ran on TV from 1972-'73 and has the distinction of being produced by infamous shock director William Castle (The Tingler) and legendary writer Richard Matheson (Duel). As the title implies the series focused on ghostly happenings, with the first fourteen episodes were introduced by a horror host of sorts, a cigar-smoking character named Winston Essex – the owner of a mysterious hotel, played by Sebastian Cabot (Twice Told Tales). He introduced the first fourteen episodes before struggling ratings forced a re-branding of the show under the moniker of Circle of Fear for the last nine episodes, without the introduction.
The pilot episode was directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and written by Richard Matheson, Moxely directed the fantastic chiller City of the Dead (AKA Horror Hotel) (1960) and of course Matheson had written a lot of the classic Twilight Zone episodes, in addition to films like The Devil Rides Out (1968), The Omega Man (1971) and The Legend of Hell House (1973), Titled "The New House" the pilot episode told the story of a young couple who buy a house and experience strange happenings, most of it centered around the pregnant woman, who later discovers that the house was the site of of a hanging of an innocent woman, and it seems the spirit is restless and has set it's eyes on the woman's unborn child. Right from the start the series has great production value and set design, it definitely had some money behind it, and the deliberate slow-burning pace was perfect for the era.
The regular 22-episode run that followed stayed the course with a lush, great-looking aesthetic, a wonderful revolving door of guest stars that ranged from the big screen actors to TV stars of the era including Jason Robards (The Ballad of Cable Hogue), Janet Leigh (Psycho), James Franciscus (The Cat O' Nine Tails), Angie Dickinson (Dressed To Kill), Melvyn Douglas (Ghost Story), Gena Rowlands (Peyton Place), Doug McCLure (Humanoids from the Deep), Stuart Whitman (Night of the Lepus), Meg Foster (They Live), Susan Dey (The Partridge Family), Jodie Foster (Silence of the Lambs), Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now), John Astin (The Addams Family), Patty Duke (The Swarm), Barry Nelson (The Shining), Carolyn Jones (The Addams Family), Pamela Franklin (The Legend of Hell House),Susan Day, Stella Stevens (Chained Heat), Karen Black (Burn Offerings), Leif Garrett (Cheerleader Camp), David Soul (Salem's Lot), and Rory Calhoun (Motel Hell) and many more.
The talent behind the camera was also notable, the ghostly seaside haunter "The Concrete Captain" was directed by Richard Donner (Superman, The Omen), while we also get some directors who made some notable 70's TV terrors, like David Lowell Rich who directed both Satan's School for Girls (1973) and The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973), and Robert Day directed The Initiation of Sarah (1978). A lot of the other directors came from TV backgrounds, I saw a lot of names from stuff like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Night Gallery, not a lot of big name film directors, but guys who knew how to put together a solid TV production and spent most of their careers doing just that.
The series also had some notable screenwriters who penned the hour-long chillers. Aside from the aforementioned Richard Metheson we have Robert Bloch (Psycho) contributing "House of Evil", a telekinesis tale starring a young Jodie Foster and Hollywood legend Melvyn Douglas, and original Star Trek series writer D.C. Fontana contributes two episodes including a fun evil doppelgänger story. If you're a Hammer horror fan you will know the name of Jimmy Sangster, he wrote so many of their biggest titles, including The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958), and contributing at least four stories for this series.
The series sticks to mostly ghostly happenings and vengeance from beyond the grave, which is not surprisingly given the initial title, but did occasionally dip it's toes into others frightful tales, with stories touching on telekinesis, doppelgängers, spiritual, possession, vampires, a haunted wooden horse, and witches. None of it overly spooky by modern standards, and there's a bit of heavy leaning on stories involving women who might be insane, but I grew up in the late seventies and I found these episodes so nostalgically wonderful. It was a trip down memory lane seeing all the familiar faces of the era, the style and colors of that decade, it was just a lot of fun watching these. The quality of the stories vary, with some of the scares coming off a bit hokey, a moth on a string in the "Death's Head" episode is laughable, but the spirit and love for the genre still comes through.
The series struggled with rating during it's run and after 14 episodes the series was given a facelift, re-branded as Circle of Fear for the remaining nine episodes, The face-lift didn't revive the ratings though and the show slipped into obscurity without any re-airing that I am aware of. The show has been available on Amazon Prime for a bit now, which is how I initially discovered it. Glad to see it on this 5-disc region-free set from Via Vision Entertainment, it's a handsomely presented package that looks fantastic, and if you're a fan of vintage chillers this is a show I highly recommend, particularly if you have a love for stuff like The Night Gallery and Kolchak the Night Stalker, it's got the same sort of vibe.
Audio/Video: Ghost Stories (1972-1973) makes it's worldwide debut on region-free Blu-ray from Via Vision
Entertainment, all 23-episodes are presented in the original TV broadcast 1.33:1 aspect ration in 1080p HD, spread across five discs. These are fantastic looking, not sure what the source is but these were shot on film and look wonderful with natural looking grain, deep inky blacks and the 70's colors really come through. There's some minor bits of debris and white speckling that occur but it's got good depth and clarity throughout.
Audio comes by way of English PCM 2.0, and while unfortunately there are no subtitles the audio is crisp and clean, the music is well-balanced, it's vintage but sounds accurate to the era. The theme song is by composer Billy Goldenberg (Helter Skelter) who just recently passed away, having a huge body of TV work under his belt. The only extra on the set are 25-minutes of bite-sized Ghost Story audio stories that were originally released on an LP, which was pretty cool.
Special Features:
- William Castle's Ghost Story - Audio Tracks from the original story LP (25 min) HD
When it comes to 70's TV horror anthologies I think that Ghost Story/Circle of Fear is a series that has fallen through the cracks unless you were at the right age to see it's initial short-lived run on NBC back in the day, which was certainly the case for me. I give this a high recommend if you're a fan of 70's TV chillerslike The Night Gallery (1970-1973) and the Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-1975), it's a wonderful gem of an anthology series well worth seeking out. The 5-disc Blu-ray set from Via Vision entertainment is region-free, it looks fantastic and the set is handsomely packaged.
More screenshots from the Blu-ray:
