Melvyn Douglas stars as a seemingly kindly Grandfather who comes to stay with his family in general, but to visit his granddaughter Judy(played by Jodie Foster) in particular. Judy is a bright girl but also a deaf-mute, though he has the ability to telepathically communicate with her, which she enjoys despite not understanding how it's possible. He also brings Judy a doll house that is an exact replica of their home, but it turns out that grandpa is also a most bitter man out to avenge himself by using black magic via both the doll house and some cookies made to resemble each relative...excellent tale with fine acting, particularly Jodie Foster who is entirely credible. Suspenseful yet tragic, with grandpa not evil so much as horribly misguided.
6 Reviews
Voodoo cookies
moonspinner5528 November 2017
Intriguing episode from William Castle's hit-or-miss anthology series "Ghost Story" features Melvyn Douglas in a juicy role playing grandpa to deaf-mute Jodie Foster, secretly communicating with her telepathically while on a visit to see former son-in-law Richard Mulligan, his new wife and family. With a grudge against everyone in the household but Foster, Douglas uses cookie dolls to represent the family members, along with a dollhouse mock-up of their home, to manipulate the little girl into doing harm to the others, starting with the housekeeper who senses his evil. Robert Bloch wrote the teleplay, and maybe only he could get away with using cookies as voodoo dolls! Douglas' scenes with young Foster, silent except for a voice-over, are well-directed by Daryl Duke, who allows this strange tale to unfold carefully. It isn't especially scary (few tales from "Ghost Story", later renamed "Circle of Fear", actually were), but with an interesting central idea and a moral at the end: grandpas who play with fire get burned.
Great episode
BandSAboutMovies26 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
For an episode that uses the Bewitched house, this Circle of Fear/Ghost Story episode just might be the most frightening of the entire series, casting a super young Jodie Foster as Judy, a girl in love with her grandfather, played by Melvyn Douglas. Judy is deaf/mute and her grandfather, well, he's evil as it gets, giving her the ability to speak without speaking and gifting her with a dollhouse and the ability to make cookie voodoo dolls, all because his daughter - who he speaks with beyond the veil of death - died giving birth to Judy, her husband (Richard Mulligan) has remarried and no one seems to be grieving like he is.
Trust me - you've never seen cookies with raisin eyes treated in so sinister a way and for as silly as the subject is, this episode is filmed completely straight. It's a sinister old man corrupting a child into using her latent mental powers to decimate her family
The script is a double blast from two of the best writers in horror film and TV, Robert Bloch and Richard Matheson, and it was directed by Daryl Duke, who also made A Cry for Help, Fatal Memories and The Silent Partner, as well as one of the most successful TV movies ever, The Thorn Birds.
If you're looking for the perfect episode to get into this show, this would be it.
Trust me - you've never seen cookies with raisin eyes treated in so sinister a way and for as silly as the subject is, this episode is filmed completely straight. It's a sinister old man corrupting a child into using her latent mental powers to decimate her family
The script is a double blast from two of the best writers in horror film and TV, Robert Bloch and Richard Matheson, and it was directed by Daryl Duke, who also made A Cry for Help, Fatal Memories and The Silent Partner, as well as one of the most successful TV movies ever, The Thorn Birds.
If you're looking for the perfect episode to get into this show, this would be it.
Excellent!
theoctobercountry21 July 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Ah, now this episode of "Ghost Story/Circle of Fear" showed just how very good this series could be; this is one of the best episodes in my opinion. It's a classic entry involving ESP and voodoo---along with an evil grandfather who takes advantage of his innocent granddaughter by having her (inadvertently) cause harm to her family through the use of creepy cookie dolls. This is probably one of the best-remembered episodes of the series, for those who first viewed the show when they were little kids.
Excellent casting throughout, featuring actors running the range from classic Hollywood stars (Melvyn Douglas) to up-and-coming new talent (Jodie Foster). Other roles were filled by those featured on one television programme or another throughout the years; lots of familiar faces here.
I got such a kick out of seeing the "Bewitched" house featured in this episode. It was used both for the interiors (with some modifications---the stairway has been altered, for example), and for the exteriors (which were shot on the Columbia Ranch). Heck, we even get to see a "Bewitched" doll-house---which of course goes up in flames most spectacularly for the finale.
Excellent casting throughout, featuring actors running the range from classic Hollywood stars (Melvyn Douglas) to up-and-coming new talent (Jodie Foster). Other roles were filled by those featured on one television programme or another throughout the years; lots of familiar faces here.
I got such a kick out of seeing the "Bewitched" house featured in this episode. It was used both for the interiors (with some modifications---the stairway has been altered, for example), and for the exteriors (which were shot on the Columbia Ranch). Heck, we even get to see a "Bewitched" doll-house---which of course goes up in flames most spectacularly for the finale.
Now this is a ghost story!
mark.waltz26 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Without a doubt the best episode of "Ghost Story" up until the point this aired, this features two fabulous performances by two-time Oscar winner Melvin Douglas in the Golden age of his career, and future two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster at the hatching of hers. Douglas is the grandfather that hasn't seen her since she was born the father of her mother who died in childbirth. Her husband Richard Mulligan (very good in a serious role) is now married to Joan Hotchkis, and they have just adopted a little boy.
Coming for a visit with the intention of seeing who he calls his new grandson, Douglas brings a huge present for little jody, a gorgeous dollhouse that is an exact replica of the house Mulligan lives in. How would grandpa know the layout? He's able to communicate with Foster through his thoughts, and it's only through their mind communication that she speaks and you hear her voice. Housekeeper Mildred danek, who worked for mulligan when he was married to Douglas's daughter, does not trust Douglas at all, and she pays dearly for her resentment towards him.
An excellent teleplay and tense direction keep just flowing excellently with the voice of the late daughter communicating with her father and eventually with her daughter. This could have been expanded into a future length film, it is that good, and while other episodes of the series started with the great premise that this has, the execution of those episodes wasn't as tight as this is. Hard to believe that this is the star of so many light-hearted romantic comedies being so masterfully evil, but he's surprised everybody with the two films he won Oscars for, one just a few years after this.
Coming for a visit with the intention of seeing who he calls his new grandson, Douglas brings a huge present for little jody, a gorgeous dollhouse that is an exact replica of the house Mulligan lives in. How would grandpa know the layout? He's able to communicate with Foster through his thoughts, and it's only through their mind communication that she speaks and you hear her voice. Housekeeper Mildred danek, who worked for mulligan when he was married to Douglas's daughter, does not trust Douglas at all, and she pays dearly for her resentment towards him.
An excellent teleplay and tense direction keep just flowing excellently with the voice of the late daughter communicating with her father and eventually with her daughter. This could have been expanded into a future length film, it is that good, and while other episodes of the series started with the great premise that this has, the execution of those episodes wasn't as tight as this is. Hard to believe that this is the star of so many light-hearted romantic comedies being so masterfully evil, but he's surprised everybody with the two films he won Oscars for, one just a few years after this.
Very solid episode
ebeckstr-126 November 2021
A young Jodie Foster exudes talent amidst an additionally solid cast of seasoned actors. A very entertaining supernatural tale about Voodoo and what could be considered the world's smallest haunted house - a child's dollhouse.
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