William Castle, along with writers like Richard Matheson and Jimmy Sangster (Del Reisman wrote this one), had a "horror" anthology series in 1972 called GHOST STORY airing on Friday nights. These kinds of shows rarely run very long, and even this program was retitled midway through its first and only season, to CIRCLE OF FEAR, and the host, Sebastian Cabot (the best name for an actor ever!) quickly dumped.
Here, in the episode "Creatures of the Canyon," Angie plays one of her many brittle neurotics who come to believe she's being stalked by a menagerie of neighborhood pets -- and she may not be wrong -- after her husband dies. (Let's just say she appears to meet the same end as Peter Lawford in DEAD RINGER). Angie's looping scenes are always so funny -- and help blur the issue that so many feel about her as an actress: is she terrific or is she terrible??
I've always loved the neo-noir style of the very-late '60s and early-'70s, with all the moody lighting and hand-held camera shots and sudden changes in focus and perspective within a single frame. (POLICE WOMAN, in the beginning, used those same techniques in a few episodes to great effect, but it was soon replaced by the standard flat-lighting and a static camera as the neo-noir style was abandoned by the industry at large). It's just more cinematic and focuses the drama (just as all the B&W noir in the '40s did).
