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| Ah, the famous horror icon, Floating Blue Pigman Head. |
Circle of Fear (aka Ghost Stores)
S01E19 Graveyard Shift
Graveyard Shift, much like the series as a whole, is a missed opportunity. It has an interesting premise and some decent actors but ultimately fails in it the execution. The story is about a nightshift security guard (John Astin) at a soon to be demolished movie studio. The guard discovers someone or something is lurking around the studio all the while his pregnant wife (Patty Duke) is having strange encounters of her own. It seems that the horror movie monsters that the film studio was famous for don’t want to die with it. They want to possess the unborn baby to continue to live.
It is nice to John Astin of Addams Family fame getting a chance to do something more dramatic. He acquits himself well as an amiable man whose better days are behind him. I think a stronger script would have tied his previous life as a movie monster actor closer to the overall plot. The story seems to be heading toward that being an important element but it never materializes. William Castle himself makes a cameo as the studio owner and gives a bittersweet monologue about how the horror films have seen better days.
Where things really fall apart are the apparitions of the famous movie monsters that are haunting everyone. The make-up looks silly rather than frightening and they never pose a significant threat to anyone. When the core element of the story fails the rest can’t help but unravel.
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