Freddie Francis

A coming of age story set in the south of the U.S. when Elvis was King. Rural Louisiana, summer of 1957, Elvis is King. At 14, Dani is coming of age. Her older sister is beautiful, smart, and off to Duke in the fall; her mom's pregnant with number four (Dad wants a son), and Dad's pretty strict. Life gets sweeter when 17-year-old Court Foster, his widowed mom, and two little brothers move into the vacant farm next door. Court likes Dani's high spirits and direct way, and though he has a man's responsibilities on the farm, they go off swimming sometimes. The waters of adolescence are deeper than Dani realizes as hers and Court's feelings get jumbled. Then Mother Nature throws wrenching surprises at Dani, and she must come to terms with new emotions.

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous facade, there is revealed a person of intelligence and sensitivity.

A carnival sideshow, Dr. Diablo's Torture Garden, pulls people in for the admission price of 2'6. The barker cries, "All in fun; no harm done". A group of five people are drawn in and fill beneath a chandelier with purple cloth festoons and shown the usual array of waxwork horrors - a prisoner in a spiked cage, a condemned person getting her head chopped off by an executioner, two styles of torture racks. Dr. Diablo tells his audience, "There is no end to man's humanity to man. Now I am going to show you death. Thousands of volts will sear every nerve in his body." The grand finale is an alleged murderer executed via the electric chair. Dr. Diablo indicates this is the conclusion of the regular sideshow but continues with an offer to see some real Torture Garden horrors. It will cost an additional 5 pounds. All five customers opt to continue. They are taken to a chamber occupied a figure of Atropos, the Greek goddess of fate and destiny. She holds in one hand strands of the Skein of Life. Each colored thread is a human life. In the other hand are the Shears of Fate. Atropos has the ability to reveal to each of them the ultimate horror that is hidden inside them. The primordial monstrosities that lurk beneath the surface of the mind. Diablo invites his guests to approach and concentrate on the Shears. Tale 1 - Enoch: The first participant to do so is Colin Williams. He has come to visit his dying Uncle Roger, already anticipating his inheritance to cover a few thousand pounds of financial obligations. He is met at the door by the somber nurse Nora Tucker. She indicates that his uncle advised her of his expected arrival but cautions him that Roger's heart is very weak. If there is trouble, he is to contact Dr. Silversmith. She then climbs on her bicycle and rides off. Colin greets his uncle who remarks that it has been three years since his last visit. He predicts that his time is short and that Colin is his only living relative. Colin admits to currently being in a fix financially. Roger scolds that he was not invited to visit about money. He admonishes him to mend his ways, find a job. A life based on these principles is the greatest legacy that he can leave with him. Colin assures him that he has learned his lessons. He has a job promised to him as soon as he clears up a few thousand pounds of obligations. Roger tells him that's out of the question. Colin queries him about his fortune. He reminds Roger that he has been on his own for 30 years without any visible source of income. He asks how he pays his bills. Roger replies that it's none of his business. Colin reveals that he has asked about Roger in the village. They told him that payment is always in cash - gold coins to be exact. He reminds Roger that the cottage was derelict until he renovated it. Did it belong to a witch? Roger says it belonged to a harmless, old, eccentric woman. Colin asks if she was a miser with a hidden hoard of gold that you discovered. He wants to know where the money is hidden. He begins to choke his uncle to underscore his desperation. Uncle Roger starts coughing, having trouble catching his breath. He requests Colin bring his medicine quickly. Colin grabs it off the mantle but withholds it, just out of grasp. "Tell me where the gold coins are," he repeats. When his uncle reaches for the glass, Colin rudely pushes the wheelchair away with his foot. Roger tries in vain to stand. The medicine glass is knocked away. Roger falls and quits breathing. Colin is upset that he can no longer force his uncle to reveal the coin's location. He calls the doctor who pronounces him dead. The body is removed in a coffin. Dr. Silversmith queries Colin as to the time-line of his uncle's death. He politely asks if Colin will mind spending the night alone in his uncle's cottage. Colin begins searching everywhere. (The camera angle reveals a trap door hidden by the bed.) He spots the trap door when he pulls up the mattress on the bed. Upon opening it, he sees a steep stairway with cobwebs hanging from the floor beams. At the bottom of it is a dirt floor with a shovel nearby. He immediately sets to digging, eventually unearthing a wooden box. Colin pries the box open with the shovel. A cat scurries out. Still remaining in the box is a skeleton with a smoldering spot at the top of the spine where there is no skull. Colin reburies the box. The cat sits atop the mantle as Colin tries to sleep on the couch. It hops to the wheelchair and stares at Colin who says, "Yes, I can hear you. Your name is Balthazar." The cat answers in Colin's mind, "You've come to stay with me, to serve me as did your uncle. I will reward you for things you must do for me. Your uncle grew ungrateful, buried me away in darkness. Now I'm free and I'm hungry." The outside door opens and the cat exits. Colin follows him and finds a man sleeping in the hay of the barn. Balthazar tells him to use the handy pitchfork on the man. Colin protests briefly, but complies. Colin awakes in the morning and examines the trap door again. He goes down the stairs on the cat's prompting and digs up a small chest of gold coins. He has some dreadful thoughts about being led to the coins. He rushes to the barn and finds the bloody remains of the tramp whose head is missing. He returns to bury the chest in guilt. The cat drops some coins on the stair as his reward. Next, the cat tells Colin he must kill nurse Tucker when she returns. Colin refuses at first but then says he'll do it. She comes in, alarmed at finding the body in the barn. He approaches her with the shovel. Colin is outside getting ready to load a chest bearing both the tramp's and the nurse's headless bodies. The constable arrives to ask about a tramp that was reported in the area. Colin disavows any knowledge of it. Unfortunately, the constable notices blood leaking from the trunk. The doctor visits Colin in his jail cell to ask why the two murders. Colin responds with, "Balthazar. He's inside my head. I've got to obey him or he starts scratching and clawing. Both bodies in the trunk have no heads. It's what he feeds on when hungry. Don't leave me. He'll come back!" The doctor leaves and Colin spots the cat up on the cell's window sill. He calls the guard for help. The guard finds nothing there and leaves. Shortly, a scream is heard. Colin's headless body is in the cell with the cat at the door. The Shears snip as Colin returns from his trance. He is surprised that so much time passed during his vision. Dr. Diablo delivers a theory that the past, the present, and the future are all but different aspects of the same memory. Tale 2 - Terror over Hollywood: Aspiring actress Carla Hayes shares an apartment with her friend Millie. Millie is getting ready for an important date with Mike Charles, a producer with connections into Hollywood's A-listers. Carla, being self-motivated, offers to iron Millie's dress while she showers. While Millie is in the shower, she intentionally leaves the iron sitting on Millie's fancy dress, ruining it. Millie is crestfallen when she discovers the "accident". She moans that she went without lunches for a month to buy the ruined dress. Carla conveniently offers to greet Mike and relay the news that she has the flu. Thus, she has maneuvers herself into going out for a fancy dinner. At the restaurant, she notices leading man Bruce Benton sitting at a table with producer Eddie Storm. Bruce quietly hopes that Mike has not seen him - no such luck. Mike approaches Bruce to see if he has any positive news on his proposal. The answer is no. Eddie takes Mike off to discuss the issue while Bruce orders a drink for Carla who has seated herself at the table. Carla expresses how big a fan she is of Bruce's work, gushing forth about several titles. In response to her enthusiasm, he offers her a second-lead role as a sister in his current production. Meanwhile, Mike is getting as drunk as he is angry. He swears to get even with the "finks". Carla mentions that the Top 10 stars never seem to age. She also notes that he is not eating his dinner as she works through her own. He makes a light-hearted excuse. The bartender tells Eddie that Mike is threatening to reveal their secret. Eddie has the bartender drive Mike home, use some knock-out drops, and leave him unconscious in the car as it idles in a closed garage. The next morning, Millie reads Carla a news article about Mike's death from carbon monoxide poisoning. Carla tells Millie about her potential movie role. When Carla meets up with Bruce the next time, he says he has had an extra scene written for her. Carla presents him with a fancy watch. He insists she can't afford presents like this. At the end of the day's shooting, Carla exclaims, "I'm beat. Where do you get all your energy?" She hopes he will take her to dinner, but he begs off. Carla is trying on a hat as Eddie Storm comes in to tell her that Bruce is not right for her. She goes with Bruce where two of the worst hoodlums in town accost them. She watches as Bruce takes a bullet in the forehead and falls to the ground. Eddie reassures her that he will be okay. At the Sunset Rest Sanatorium, Doc Heim emerges from the operating room and confirms that Bruce is doing fine. Carla is positive that she saw him dead. She tells Eddie that she needs to talk to him. When she queries him for the truth, he indicates that Bruce had some gambling debts that got him in trouble. The person she saw shot dead was a double. Carla counters this explanation with some information she has dug up on her own from the newspaper morgue. She read clippings about Eddie's terrible boating accident in 1944 at Newport Beach in which his skull and chest were crushed. He answers that he was rushed to the clinic where Dr. Heim saved him. Carla tells him she is seeing Bruce tonight. Later, Bruce calls the studio gate and request that Dr. Heim be sent to Stage G when he arrives. On set, she sees he is wearing the watch that was supposedly on the double that was shot. In shock, she grabs Bruce's face affectionately to declare she is in love with him. Bruce pulls back. Some of his facial skin has pulled off revealing an underlying layer of metal. Suddenly, Carla understands. The Top 10 immortals of the screen never age. Their brains have been encased in synthetic bodies. They are cyborgs! Bruce indicates that he lives on applause and fame. He also confides in her that Mike wanted to be one of us, but he lost his temper and threatened to reveal their secret, so he was eliminated. Bruce then indicates that Carla could be one of them, a member of the Top 10. He asks Dr. Heim how soon could he operate. Carla is seen at an event with a crowd of fans pushing and shoving to see her, a major star, up close. One of the fans remarks that Carla is a living doll. Carla's trance is broken and Dr. Diablo chortles that this is a warning to can-be's. Tale 3 - Mr. Steinway: As Dorothy Endicott focuses on the shears, she begins to hear Beethoven's Für Elise being played. She is at the door of Leo Winston's apartment. When she rings the bell, the door is answered by Maxine Chambers, his manager. Maxine insists that Leo must rehearse today and won't have much time to spare for the interview she has planned. Dorothy enters the room where Leo is practicing. She gushes over his playing. Interpreting her reactions as a deep love for music, he suggests that she had better meet Euterpe, his piano that was named for the Greek muse of music. He adds that the piano was a gift from his mother. Leo sits down and begins to play Schumann's Traumerei for her. He invites her to have dinner with him. At dinner, he confesses that he is attracted to her. His piano, however, has picked up on this and is jealous, making him commit too many mistakes while he is playing. Manager Maxine tells Dorothy that she needs to stop pursuing a relationship with Leo, that it will ruin his career. Leo, however, claims, "I love her and she loves me. For the first time in my life, I am truly happy." Later, Leo, struggling with the piano, slumps over the keyboard. Dorothy, who has been listening at the door, enters. She presents him with a framed photo of herself. Leo tells her they have been invited to an 8 o'clock party. Dorothy sits at the piano and puts her hands on the keys. The piano slams the cover down in an attempt to injure her. She suggests they have a drink to relax. Dorothy asks Leo, acting like he is in a trance, what is wrong. When he says nothing is the matter, she presses for the truth. He reluctantly announces that Euterpe resents her. "She is trying to protect me from you interference." The piano has smashed the framed photo of Dorothy on the floor. She tells Leo he needs to cancel his upcoming tour. Maxine rebuts with, "You're smothering him." She accuses her of just wanting to be the wife of a famous pianist. The next time Dorothy arrives at the apartment, she hears music coming from the piano. Leo opens the door. Dorothy realizes he could not move that fast from the piano to the door. When she says she heard music, Leo replies that he was not play, that it was Euterpe herself. Dorothy is getting panicky. She insists that Euterpe is just a piano, not something with a life of its own. She entreats Leo to go away together with her to clear his mind. He says he asked Maxine to cancel his tour. They agree that they will leave tonight and kiss. Dorothy leaves to pack. Upon Dorothy's return, Euterpe starts playing Chopin's Funeral March. When she tries to exit the studio, the piano chases her. As she stands in front of the window, the piano charges, pushing her out. She falls to the sidewalk far below. Euterpe is now playing a sweet melody. Dorothy's trance ends. Tale 4 - The Man Who Collected Poe: Pipe smoking Ronald Wyatt enters his trance at an exhibit of rare books. What he is most interested in are early American editions of works by Edgar Allen Poe. They are from the collection of Lancelot Canning, Esq. One of the volumes is a first edition for which only six copies are known to exist. Wyatt is introduced to Canning and asks if it is for sale, indicating that he would be willing to pay a handsome price. The answer is no. Canning gives Wyatt a card with an invitation to visit him when back in the U.S. Wyatt does just that, coming to see Canning's collection at his museum-like home in Maryland. He is shown, for example, the cravat that Poe wore for his last lecture and his flute in a glass bell jar. He offers Wyatt a drink as he tells of his grandfather and father before him being avid Poe fans. He mentions that collecting can become a mania. Wyatt encourages Canning to drink more so that he might take advantage of him. Canning invites Wyatt to see the collectibles in his basement, mentioning that what he is about to see must remain a secret. He indicates no one has been down there since his father died. With lighted candles, the two start down. Wyatt is astonished to find unpublished Poe manuscripts! He begs Canning to part with one for his collection. The answer is again, "No." Wyatt spots a decorative box. As he tries to open it, Canning stops him, promising to tell him about it when they return upstairs. Wyatt holds one of the unpublished works to the light and is mystified to find it written on watermarked paper that is dated 1966. He insists Canning explain how that can be, vowing to break his promise of silence if he is not told. Canning opens the box saying it held Poe's ashes. The box, however, is empty. Canning continues by saying that his grandfather was an occultist who reanimated the dust. Thus, Poe is still alive. Canning suggests they go back upstairs, but Wyatt wants to know what another key opens. He snatches the key and heads for a door. Canning interferes, but Wyatt clobbers him with a candlestick. When Wyatt opens the door, he finds a chamber with a pentagram on the floor with a goat's head design in the middle. As he enters, the door closes on its own behind him. There, in a chair, is the figure of Edgar Allen Poe, himself. Poe says, "Want to help me release my new works? I made a deal with the Devil. I can only be released by replacing me with another living soul. Another way is by subjecting the other soul to fire. You must tell me about the unknown beyond death. You are trapped. You'll be the best subject for my last Poe story." Wyatt wakes from his trance. "Who are you?" he asks. Dr. Diablo says that he simply provides excursions into the mind. Gordon Roberts, the fifth member of the spectator party, accuses Dr. Diablo of being demented. He grabs the Shears of Fate and stabs Dr. Diablo in the chest. The others rush away in horror. When they are gone, Gordon and Dr. Diablo start chuckling, congratulating each other on their performance. It was all a ruse to get the others to leave quickly. But Wyatt has stayed hidden just around the corner. He reappears and also commends their performance. He asks Dr. Diabolo if he wants to make a deal between the two of them. It seems like the right time. Before leaving, he reaches forward to light a cigarette for the doctor using the same lighter he borrowed in his vision. Dr. Diablo, whose back has been turned, faces the camera. He has horns sprouting from his forehead, revealing himself to indeed be Satan.

A collector comes into possession of the skull of the Marquis de Sade and learns it is possessed by an evil spirit. A collector of esoterica, Dr. Maitland, buys an unusual skull from his ordinary source of artifacts. The skull is what remains of marquis De Sade. Much too soon he discovers how the skull affects him: by turning him into a frenzied killer.

A man's body has been laid out in a cabin in the woods. While the deceased's relatives go to fetch a priest, a body snatcher steals the body, observed by a young girl who then runs off screaming into the woods where she bumps into Baron Frankenstein [Peter Cushing]. The Baron and the thief take the body to the Baron's laboratory where the Baron cuts out the dead man's heart and places it in a tank of fluid. The priest [James Maxwell] takes the young girl with him to identify the body snatcher and locate the residence of the Baron. The Baron and his assistant Hans [Sandor Elès] start the laboratory equipment which is connected to the heart. As it generates electricity the heart starts to beat. The priest bursts in and starts to destroy the equipment, including the tank with the heart. Frustrated that his work has been destroyed, the Baron relocates with Hans back to the village of Karlstaad and the Baron's castle which has been badly neglected since the last time he was there. The Baron explains to Hans he is researching the life force within people and how he once harnessed the electrical force of a storm to generate enough power to bring a person he had created to life in his laboratory at the castle. In a flashback, the Baron is seen bringing the heavily bandaged creature [Kiwi Kingston] to life. He spends time observing the creature's behaviour in his laboratory; how it reacts to fire and food. One morning when the Baron awakes the creature has escaped. The Baron follows and finds it killing sheep for food. A police officer [Duncan Lamont] and some villagers chase them and shoot the creature as it tries to escape. The baron is arrested and forced to leave. He explains that people destroy what they don't believe and what they are afraid of. The Baron and Hans go into Karlstaad where a carnival in taking place and they are able to move freely wearing masks so the Baron won't be recognised. In a bar the Baron sees the Burgomaster [David Hutcheson] and the police officer who shot the creature, who is now chief of police. The Baron sees the Burgomaster is wearing something of his and starts to make a fuss, but when the police recognise him they leave in a hurry. They escape to a tent where Zoltan [Peter Woodthorpe] the hypnotist is performing his show. He enlists the help of the Baron and Hans as volunteers but the police come in and break up the show claiming Zoltan does not have a licence to perform. The Baron flees and forces his way into the Burgomaster's house and accuses him of stealing the Baron's belongings. The police chief arrives to arrest the Baron, but the Baron escapes out of the bedroom window and back into the carnival crowd where he meets Hans. They escape up into the mountains since it is the only place they will be safe. A young dumb beggar woman [Katy Wild] sees them and takes them to a cave where they can rest and shelter from a storm. In a part of the cave, the Baron finds the body of the creature, preserved in the ice of a glacier. They thaw it out and carry it back to the castle and the beggar girl goes with them. The Baron and Hans prepare the laboratory equipment to revive the creature. The storm intensifies and they switch on the electrical power to give life back to the creature. However, despite it brief movements, the creature is unresponsive. The Baron believes its brain was damaged when it was shot. Although he repaired it, he is unsure why the creature is now so unresponsive so he asks Zoltan for help. Zoltan is preparing to leave Karlstaad but the Baron convinces him to come to the castle and try to hypnotise the creature. When Zoltan manages to wake the creature up, it attacks them and the Baron and Hans have to subdue it with chloroform. The Baron wants to continue his research on the creature but Zoltan wants to put it in a show. He demonstrates that the creature will not obey the Baron, it will only obey him. Zoltan wants a partnership with the Baron and Hans, to which the Baron has no choice now but to agree. Zoltan commands the creature to go into the village at night to steal gold for him. The creature returns with several gold ornaments but was seen by a villager who reports what he saw to the police. Zoltan commands the creature to punish the Burgomaster and the chief of police. The creature breaks into the Burgomaster's house and attacks him, beating him to death. It then goes to the police station and kills the chief of police. When the creature returns and Zoltan sees the blood on its hands, he says he did not mean it to kill them. He tries to make his escape with the gold but is caught by the Baron and thrown out of the castle, not before threatening to kill the Baron. The beggar girl attends to the creatures wounds but Zoltan commands the creature from outside to let him back in. The creature attacks the Baron with a metal stake but the Baron repels it with fire from an oil lamp. When Zoltan commands it to go back, the creature kills him with the metal stake instead. The police arrive and arrest the Baron for the murders of Zoltan, the Burgomaster and the chief of police. The girl and the creature escape back to the mountain cave, followed by Hans who brings them back to the castle once everyone else has left. While the Baron is in a police cell, the villagers group together to hunt down the creature. The Baron manages to escape by knocking out the guard with chloroform and rushes back to the castle. The girl gives the creature some wine, sending it into a rage. It staggers around the laboratory destroying the equipment despite the Baron's efforts to stop it. Fires break out but the Baron barricades the door to stop it escaping, trapping himself inside with it. As the beggar girl and Hans run away from the castle, an explosion destroys it.

Simon and Eleanor Ashby are at church, along with their Aunt Harriet, for a service commemorating the death of their parents in a plane crash. Also mentioned is their brother Tony, who disappeared soon after and was believed to have committed suicide. Eleanor is a frail young woman who never recovered from Tony's death. At Simon's insistence, she has a nurse companion to attend her. Unknown to the family, Francoise is Simon's mistress. Eleanor suddenly spots a young man outside and runs to find him. She insists the man is Tony but no one believes her. Later that day, she spots him in the garden. Again he escapes before she can confront him. Convinced that she is going insane, she goes to the cliffs and prepares to jump into the ocean. She is rescued by the young man, who carries her to the house. The butler recognizes the man as Tony Ashby. The young man turns up at the office of John Kossett, the family solicitor. He claims to be Tony Ashby, revealing that he did not commit suicide but ran away. He has traveled all over the world but now wishes to return to the family and claim his inheritance. Unfortunately, Simon is due to inherit everything in a few weeks. Tony's reappearance will ruin everything. Simon becomes even more drunk and obnoxious. While Eleanor is delighted to have her brother back, Aunt Harriet and Simon are hostile. They do not believe the man is Tony. He is summoned to the house and put through the ringer, but answers every question correctly. Later, Tony meets the solicitor's son Keith for a drink. Keith hired him to pose as Tony to prevent an audit of the estate, which would reveal Keith's embezzlement. The impostor's real name is not revealed but he bears a startling resemblance to Tony. Keith gave him a compete family history, adding events that only the real Tony would know. Tony awakes one night to the faint sounds of a choirboy singing, to an organ accompaniment. He follows the music to the ruined chapel attached to the house. Eleanor joins him, explaining that she has heard the singing too but though she was imagining things. They manage to look inside. Someone wearing a choir robe and a garish mask is standing next to a phonograph, which is playing a record of a child singing. Simon is playing the same song on the organ. Tony and Eleanor don't know what to make of this. Suddenly the door opens and Tony is attacked by the robed figure. Despite a slashed arm he manages to overpower the figure. It is Aunt Harriet. Upstairs, Aunt Harriet explains that Simon has been tormented ever since his brother's presumed suicide. Having her impersonate Tony, while playing a song that Tony sang as a child, is the only way he can get any peace. Eleanor and Tony are shocked. Aunt Harriet turns on Tony, asking why he bothered to come back. Simon continues to drink, running up huge liquor bills. One night Tony is forced to bring him home from the local pub, where he has passed. out. It is obvious that Simon hates him and even accuses him of being an impostor. Eleanor confesses that she is now afraid of Simon. While Eleanor and Tony are on a picnic, the brakes of her car fail and she is nearly killed. Once again Tony saves her life. They are forced to take a taxi home. When Simon sees them arrive from Francoise's window, he is furious. It was he who cut the brake line, hoping they would both die. Francoise is aware of this and threatens to tell the police unless Simon marries her. That night she decides to leave, but Simon catches her in the grounds. He forces her head into a nearby pond and she drowns. Eleanor begins to realize she is in love with Tony. After they kiss, she runs to her room and locks herself in, intending to cut her wrists. If she is in love with her own brother, she must be insane. Tony breaks down the door and stops her, revealing that he isn't her brother. He asks her if she will leave with him and she agrees. But Simon overpowers Tony and knocks him out. When he comes to, he is tied to a chair in the ruined chapel. Simon is the one who is insane. After getting Tony to write a fake suicide note sometime earlier, he put the note and Tony's clothing on the cliffs. In the impostor's attempts to free himself, he knocks over a lantern and fire breaks out. Simon screams and begins tearing off the paneling next to the organ console. A skeleton wearing a choir robe is revealed. It is the real Tony Ashby, who was killed by Simon. Eleanor arrives and frees the impostor. They are unable to rescue Simon, who goes to his death clutching his brother's skeleton.