Torture Garden
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.
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