The torture garden of Dr. Diabolo
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The torture garden of Dr. Diabolo |
| Original title | Torture Garden |
| Country of production | Great Britain |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1967 |
| length | 96 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Freddie Francis |
| script | Robert Bloch |
| production |
Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky |
| music |
Don Banks James Bernard |
| camera | Norman Warwick |
| cut | Peter Tanner |
| occupation | |
| |
The torture garden of Dr. Diabolo (Original title: Torture Garden , Alternative title: Garden of Secrets ) is a British episodes - horror film of 1967 by Freddie Francis provided by Amicus Productions was produced. The film was launched with the advertising line “Do you dare see what Dr. Diabolo sees? ”(German:“ Do you dare to see what Dr. Diabolo sees? ”).
action
Framework story
In an amusement park there is an attraction called the torture garden . It is a wax museum whose owner is Dr. Diabolo is called. At the beginning of the film you can see Dr. Diabolo disguised as the devil shows his audience the execution of a wax figure on the electric chair. After the show, he takes off his devil makeup and tells them about a special attraction that he only shows to selected people. Five viewers volunteered, playboy Colin Williams, American Carla Hayes (her cousin), music lover Dorothy Endicott, Edgar Allan Poe collector Ronald Wyatt and a doctor. Dr. Diabolo leads you into a room with a wax figure sitting on a throne. The viewers are disappointed and want their money back, but Diabolo explains to them that the wax figure represents the Greek goddess of fate Atropos , who predicts people's future and shows them their dark sides and what they are capable of. The audience can be predicted their future one after the other, whereby the individual predictions are told as four horror episodes in the further course of the film, in which Atropos often appears as a supporting character such as a nurse. The framework story continues between the episodes.
Enoch
First, Colin is shown his future. He sees that he is driving to the country to see his uncle Roger, who has a heart condition. A witch is said to have lived in Uncle Roger's house who owned a great treasure that Uncle Roger allegedly found. Colin squeezes his uncle where he hid the treasure. The latter gets a heart attack. He asks Colin to give him his medicine, but Colin refuses to give him the medicine before telling him about the treasure. Uncle Roger dies of the heart attack. Colin makes it look like he has nothing to do with Uncle Roger's death. He decides to spend the night in the house to look for the treasure. He finds a trapdoor under the bed that leads into a dark cellar. There he digs for the treasure. However, he finds a coffin that contains the witch's body. When he opens the coffin, a cat jumps out. Colin runs upstairs. The cat suddenly speaks to him. He tells him that his name is Balthazar and that he must now serve him like his uncle and that he will reward him for it. Colin finds a sleeping tramp in the barn. The tomcat, who feeds on human heads, orders him to kill the tramp with a pitchfork. Colin refuses, but the cat begins to let out a nerve-racking meow whereupon Colin does the deed. The next morning, Colin wakes up on the couch. He thinks everything was just a dream, but in the basement he finds Balthazar who awards Colin with a part of the witch's treasure. Colin realizes that he really killed the tramp. The cat now demands that Colin also kill his uncle's widow, which Colin does. The police find the bodies and Colin goes to jail. He tells the prison guard about the cat and how he got him to kill people. In the cell he is again haunted by Balthazar. The chief of police hears Colin's screams in his office. When he checks the cell, Colin's headless body is lying there. Balthazar chooses the police chief as his new servant.
Terror Over Hollywood
Next up is Carla Hayes. Her friend goes on a date with Hollywood star Charles. Since Carla's big dream is to become a movie star, she secretly burns her friend's dress with the iron. Her friend says to find an excuse for Charles, which Carla does too. That's why Charles goes out with her. In a restaurant, Carla Charles meets colleagues Leo and Storm, with whom she talks about how she always wanted to be an actress, whereupon Storm offers her a role in his new film. Charles, who has just learned that he will not work on Storm's new film, drowns his frustration in the bar with alcohol. Later, when Charles is about to go home, he is killed by the bartender, who makes it look like an accident. Carla reads "Accident" in Charles' newspaper the next day. Later she rehearses with Leo for the film until Leo goes away with two men. However, the two men are gangsters and kill Leo with a headshot. Although it is clear to Carla that Leo is dead, Storm takes him to the clinic of surgeon Dr. Home. A few days later, Leo reappears on set completely healthy. Storm explains to Carla that only Leo's double was shot. Carla doesn't think so. Since she was in the newspaper archive about Dr. Heim investigated, she found out that Storm was seriously injured in a boating accident a few years ago and that Dr. Heim treated him to it. Since Storm's skull and chest were smashed in the accident, it should actually have scars, but it is intact. When Carla talks to Leo about it, he denies it. Carla says she loves him, but Leo cannot love her. Carla grabs his head, tearing some skin off his left cheek. She realizes with horror that there is metal underneath. Leo explains the shocking truth about the immortal Hollywood stars. You are really immortal because Dr. Heim found a way to transplant the human brain into a synthetic body. Charles had to be moved out of the way because he knew this. Now Carly is supposed to be killed too, but Leo protects her. Instead, it should also be turned into an android. Carly struggles, but the others and Dr. Heim force her to do so, and so she too becomes an immortal film star.
Mr. Steinway
Dorothy Endicott is dating the successful pianist Gordon Roberts. He shows her his wing, which he lovingly named after the muse Euterpe . He speaks of Euterpe as if she were a living being. Suddenly Gordon can no longer play properly in Dorothy's presence. He says Euterpe doesn't like Dorothy yet. Dorothy thinks it's a joke. However, it gets worse over time. He says that Euterpe is jealous of Dorothy. Dorothy is pissed off that a grand piano is her competitor. She talks to Gordon's manager about it. She says he's in no shape for a tour he's planned. One evening Dorothy overhears Gordon playing, but when she enters the room, Gordon is at the door and not with Euterpe. He tells her that Euterpe played and not him. Dorothy is angry. She persuades Gordon to cancel his tour. Gordon decides to follow Dorothy. he goes briefly to another room. Suddenly Dorothy hears Euterpe playing. She goes into the room with the grand piano. The wing begins to move. He locks the door for her and then pushes her out the window. Dorothy dies on impact and Gordon then plays on Euterpe.
The Man Who Collected Poe
Ronald Wyatt, an Edgar Allan Poe collector, meets Lancelot Canning, who is also a Poe collector and owns all of the works in the original edition. Ronald really wants to see the collection with his own eyes, which is why Lancelot invites him to visit him. Ronald is enthusiastic about the collection and wants to buy something from Lancelot, but that is out of the question for Lancelot. Lancelot offers Ronald a whiskey. After a while, Lancelot gets drunk himself, so he's ready to reveal a secret to Ronald. He leads him into the basement, where there are some unpublished original manuscripts by Edgar Allan Poe. However, Ronald notes that the stories were written on modern paper and are dated 1966. Ronald therefore doubts the authenticity of the manuscripts. But Lancelot explains to him that his grandfather, who was a big Poe fan himself and who started the collection, sold corpses to universities. One day he dug up the body of Edgar Allan Poe and since he was also a gifted magician he brought him to life. Ronald finds a key and tries to use it to unlock a locked door. Lancelot tries to stop him, but Ronald knocks him down with a candlestick. Ronald opens the door. Behind it is the lively Edgar Allan Poe. Poe tells Ronald that he wants to die because he made a pact with the devil and therefore has to live forever. Ronald redeems Edgar Allan Poe by setting the house on fire. Instead, his soul now belongs to the devil and he burns together with the house and Lancelot's collection.
The End
After Ronald had the future predicted, he began to laugh. Dr. Diabolo explains to the others that what they have seen should be seen as a warning of what could happen. Last is the doctor's turn, but he refuses because the whole thing is too scary for him. Dr. Diabolo forces him to do it because he has paid for it. The doctor takes the scissors from Atropos and stabs Dr. Diabolo with it. The spectators leave the wax museum in a panic. When everyone is gone, Diabolo gets up again. The doctor was his assistant and the stabbing was part of the show. Suddenly Ronald appears again. He recognized who Dr. Diabolo really is, namely the devil himself. He says that he would like to make a pact with him one day. Dr. Diabolo agrees. In the last scene, Dr. Diabolo takes the scissors out of his chest and gives them back to the wax figure. Then he turns towards the camera and suddenly he has the face of the devil again.
More movies
The torture garden of Dr. Diabolo is named after Freddie Francis' The Death Cards of Dr. Schreck (1965) the second in a series of episodic horror films produced by Amicus Productions from 1965 to 1980. This was followed by Peter Duffell's Dance of Death of the Vampires (1970), Roy Ward Baker's Maze of Terror (1972), Freddie Francis' Tales from the Crypt (1972), Roy Ward Baker's In the Devil's Snare (1973), Kevin Connor's The Door to the Hereafter (1973), and Roy Ward Bakers Monster Club (1980).
criticism
"[...] Freddie Francis, who has directed some of the best awesome films, stages the four stories routinely, effectively and not without irony - it is a nice idea to have the figure of Atropos in changing disguises in the episodes to integrate. This unfolds, frighteningly lively, with a certain effect in the framework - although it remains to be seen whether the imperceptible movements that are visible from time to time are part of the concept or can only be traced back to the actress' inability to keep still. The highlight is certainly the furious story about Edgar Allan Poe, but the other stories also offer well-groomed Brit horror charm with style. "
“A fairground company presents its customers their future in the form of a shower cabinet. The horror film tells five of these visions as crazy-fantastic short stories and is sometimes quite effective. A tech-savvy horror film, for friends of the genre of interest. "
"Despite a certain rawness, this episode film may be of interest to older lovers of the genre because of its extraordinary stories and technical skills."
Frames
- German theatrical version
The German theatrical version of The Torture Garden of Dr. Diabolo was cut by about 3 minutes. Among other things, the complete opening sequence in which Dr. Diabolo "executes" a wax figure. Most of the action scenes were cut to streamline the film. The cut scenes were never dubbed in German. The German theatrical version was approved by the FSK for people aged 16 and over. This cut version was also shown on TV.
- Original version
The English original version has a running time of approx. 96 minutes and is the longest version of the film. It is available worldwide on DVD.
Publications
In Germany, the torture garden of Dr. Diabolo not released on VHS . On December 6, 2005, the film was first released on DVD in Germany by Sony Pictures . Included is the uncut, restored version of the film. the scenes that were missing in the German version are contained in the original English version.
Web links
- The torture garden of Dr. Diabolo in the online film database
- The torture garden of Dr. Diabolo in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry on the cut TV version in the online film database
- ↑ Criticism on echolog.de
- ↑ The torture garden of Dr. Diabolo. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 65/1968.
- ^ Entry on the cut German theatrical version in the online film database
- ^ Entry on the uncut British DVD in the online film database
- ^ Entry on uncut German DVD in the online film database