Original subtitles

I'd like to introduce you to a young

man, a young man, a young man, a

young man, a young man.

I'd like to introduce you to a young

man, and say, oh, what a clever trickster

he is.

What a sly deceiver.

And go to sleep in the security of

your own real world.

What is real?

Are you certain you know what reality is?

How do you know that at this second,

you aren't asleep in your bed dreaming that

you are here in this theater?

Why, then, it all seems too real.

Well, haven't you ever had a dream that

seemed very real until you woke up?

Then again, how do you know that you

ever really did wake up?

In fact, perhaps when you had thought that

you were waking up, you had actually just

begun to dream.

You see what I mean, don't you?

All your life, your past, your rules of

what can or cannot be may all be

part of one long dream from which you

are about to awaken and discover the world

as it really is.

Awakening the dead is beyond the scope of

my meager powers, but the least I can

do for you is make Isaac Newton quiver

in his grave by defying his law of

gravity.

What goes up must come

down, perhaps, but not

always.

Torture and terror have always fascinated mankind.

Perhaps whatever made your predecessors see the sadism

of the Inquisition and the gore of a

gladiator's arena is the same thing that makes

you stare at bloody highway accidents and thrill

to the terror of death in the bouldering.

Today, television and films give you the luxury

of observing grisly dismemberments and deaths without anyone

actually being harmed.

But ladies and gentlemen, have you ever seen

the sight of human butchery in person?

Well, tonight, on this stage, you will have

the privilege of seeing such a sight.

For tonight, Montag will saw a living

woman in half.

Old hat, you think?

A tired trick.

Well, skeptical ladies, which one of you will

volunteer for this harmless stunt?

You were expecting a mere handsaw and a

covered wooden casket?

Oh, no.

That's the old-fashioned way of sawing people

in half.

Today, magicians are mechanized, too, and nothing will

be concealed from your view.

Table for how many, please?

I still say, that was the most amazing

thing I've ever seen.

Look, it was a good show, and that's

all.

Jack, why must you always be so jaded?

You saw him cut her in half, didn't

you?

Weren't you even the least bit impressed?

Sure, I was impressed.

By his staging, look, the guy is no

magician.

He's just a hell of a technician.

The mirrors, the lights, probably a ringer in

the audience.

He had the whole thing set up beautifully.

Of course, it was a trick.

If it was all that easy, a light

and a few mirrors, like you say, why

hasn't anyone else done it before?

How do you know someone hasn't?

When's the last time you've seen a magician?

You know, sometimes you make things sound as

exciting as a shoelace factory.

Hey, just think about those nets today.

Six to four, that's my team.

Everything except for sports, that is.

You know, I'm really hurt by that.

What kind of a relationship are we going

to have if you don't take an interest

in my work?

In your work?

Look, I was raised in a house with

four brothers, a tomboy sister, and a dad

who bet on basketball games.

The only reason why I left home was

to get away from the game of the

week.

So, in a city full of interior decorators,

you had a fond love of the sports

for everybody.

That's your tough luck.

What's that all about?

I don't know.

Maybe a holdup.

Looks like someone got hurt.

Wait a minute, I got an idea.

Press, press.

Let us through, please.

Press, press.

Officer, officer, let us through, please.

Press, press.

What happened?

The dead person touched me.

I'm going

to be sick.

You'll be all right.

Listen, as soon as I get you to

your apartment, I'll give you the emergency special.

Half gin and half vermouth.

You sprinkle the vermouth over a female toad,

and we'll drink the gin.

Let's go.

Okay.

Hey, Jack, hurry up, man.

Your girlfriend's on the tube.

All right, I'm coming.

My mother once told me, as mothers have

been known to do since the beginning of

time, that if I didn't have anything nice

to say, I should keep my precious little

trap shut.

Well, if you watch this program regularly, with

the glut of cheap exploitation films and the

lack of talent on and off Broadway, that's

a practice that I find increasingly difficult to

follow in the theater and review portion of

this program.

Sarcastic broad you've got there, Jack.

That's my girl.

...dear old mom, that I'm abandoning stage and

screen today to bring you a much more

exotic bit of entertainment billed as Montag the

Great.

Your eyes see, but your mind won't believe.

In case you haven't guessed, Montag's a magician.

Well, the other night I took in Montag's

show expecting nothing more than a nostalgic reminder

of the tuxedoed Spangalis that filled my childhood

with disappearing rabbits and levitating volunteers, and yes,

women sawed in half before your very eyes.

Montag provided me with more than I had

bargained for.

He did indeed saw a member of the

audience in half, only he used an electric

saw that could have tumbled a redwood and

did it out in the open where the

entire audience could watch the blade pass through

the woman's body.

It put me in a state of fright

such as I haven't experienced since the wolfman

had me quivering under the seats of the

old bijou in Kansas City, a state from

which I could not revive until the woman

arose in one piece and took her bow.

We'll try and get Montag here on this

show and see if we can't worm some

of his dark secrets out of him.

But don't wait.

See his act just as soon as you

can.

That's our show for today, girls.

Join us tomorrow when we'll be talking to

female liberation leader Alice Dedmon.

I'm Sherry Carson, and this has been Housewife's

Coffee Break.

Mr. Montag, I'm Sherry Carson.

Sherry Carson, I have a daytime talk television

show.

I'd like to have you on my show.

Do you mind if I come in?

I don't give interviews.

Wouldn't you like to have a seat?

No, thank you.

I told you, I do not grant interviews.

Look, Mr. Montag, I saw your show last

night and I thought you were absolutely fabulous.

I gave you a rave plug on my

television show today.

Look, with the exposure of 15 minutes on

the air, you wouldn't have an empty seat

in the audience for a month.

I appreciate your plug, as you say, but

I'm afraid a personal appearance would be impossible.

I can't guarantee you this, but there may

be a chance I could get you on

our network's national nighttime show, if you cooperate,

of course.

No.

Is that all, Miss Carson?

I'm sorry I bothered you.

You probably have some magic hocus-pocus for

selling tickets anyway.

Goodbye.

Perhaps I have been too hasty in rejecting

your proposal, and perhaps you have been too

hasty in your evaluation of my meager talents.

Why not come back and see the performance

tonight?

There will be tickets awaiting you at the

box office for you and a companion.

Tonight, you will see a new illusion.

And then, if you feel the same way,

perhaps we will work out some kind of

arrangement.

Why, thank you, Mr. Montag.

I certainly will be there tonight, and I

am so, so sorry for being so...

No, I found you perfectly charming.

Good day.

Good day.

I'll see you tonight.

Oh, we saw him last night.

Sherry.

Sherry, I...

No, no, I don't care if the tickets

are free.

No, look, look.

Look, baby, of course not.

I don't want to stand in the way

of your career.

No, no, I am not jealous.

Of course not.

Look, look, look.

Are you sure he said it's going to

be a different show?

All right, all right.

I'll pick you up in 40 minutes.

Goodbye.

What goes up must come down.

Perhaps, but not always.

I'll kill you for this.

I'm sorry.

Torture and terror have always fascinated mankind.

Perhaps whatever drove your predecessors to the sadism

of the Inquisition and the gore of a

gladiator's arena is the same thing that compels

you to stare at bloody highway accidents and

thrill to death in the boring.

Today, television and films give us the luxury

of watching grisly dismemberments and deaths without anyone

ever getting harmed.

But ladies and gentlemen, have you ever had

the fine luxury of observing a spectacle of

human butchery in person?

Well, tonight, on this stage, I will give

you this opportunity.

For tonight, I, Montag, will

drive a spike through the brain of a

female volunteer from this audience.

Which one of you will volunteer for this

harmless spectacle?

I'm stunned.

Come now, my skeptical friends.

A moment ago, you were tired of my

old tricks.

Don't tell me you're afraid of me now.

Isn't there one lady among you who is

considerate enough to satisfy her fellow human beings'

lust for blood?

I'm going to...

Did I say that I would drive a

solid metal spike?

into this woman's brain.

Would a gentleman from the audience kindly come

up here and inspect this object?

I'll do it.

It is solid metal, isn't it?

It appears to be.

You won't notice, but it is sharpened on

the end to enable it to pierce the

subject's skull.

Will you now take this hammer and pound

the spike into the wood, thereby proving that

it is surely metal?

Are you now convinced?

It is.

It is.

Thank you.

You may return to your seat.

Now!

We are ready.

THE END Maybe he'll tell us how he

did it.

Mr. Montag, I'd like you to meet my

fiancé, Jack Ward.

Jack Montag, again.

Ah, Miss Carson.

And the helpful young man from the audience.

Won't you come in and have a seat?

Certainly, thank you.

Well, did you enjoy tonight's performance as much

as last night's?

Oh, we certainly did, but I don't suppose

there's any way we can get you to

tell us your secrets.

Secrets?

Why, it's nothing more than an illusion.

By what you think you've seen me do,

you know never could have happened.

So what more could they be but mere,

simple, harmless illusions?

I'm afraid your illusions may not be as

harmless as you think.

What do you mean?

You know that woman you pretended to saw

in half last night?

Some nut must have followed her after the

show to a restaurant and done the trick

for real.

They found her body in a booth.

Cut in two pieces.

Oh, how awful.

How do you know?

I saw it in the paper just as

I was leaving the apartment.

I recognized her photo.

It was her body that we ran into

last night.

Very unfortunate.

You can't blame Montag.

The killer could have been watching a western

on television and gone out and killed someone.

Nevertheless, I feel very guilty.

Ah, she's right.

All the psychotics on the street aren't your

fault.

They're probably more likely to go on a

rampage after a typical television show than after

one of your performances.

It was just one in a million.

Well, Montag, have you reconsidered being on my

show?

Yes, I have reconsidered.

But I'm sorry to say I must still

refuse to be interviewed.

However, I will agree to perform an illusion.

A very special illusion.

If I can have the technical facilities necessary

to do it.

Anything.

Anything you want.

Would Friday's program be all right?

I think so.

And now, if you'll allow me, I must

ask you to leave.

You see, these performances do leave me quite

exhausted.

And despite your delightful company, I find it

difficult suppressing my yawns.

Oh, I would like you to come to

tomorrow's performance, too.

For tomorrow, I promise you a new and

different illusion.

We would miss it for the world.

Excellent.

Your tickets will be waiting for you at

the box office.

Good night.

It was a pleasure.

Good night.

Don't be such a lousy sport.

It won't kill you to spend one more

night in the theater.

No, but if I did go, which I

have no intention of doing, by the way,

I might kill you.

Look, how many basketball, football, baseball, hockey games

have I sat through for you?

If you hate them so much, then how

come you always beg to be with me

when the games are sold out?

Oh, yeah?

Did I beg to see that intercollegiate wrestling

tournament?

And yuck, I never smelled anything so terrible.

Then how come you were drooling at those

almost naked male bodies?

Well, it was just kind of nice to

see one that was in good shape for

a change.

Well, I just hope you like Montag's body,

because tomorrow night, it's going to be you

and Montag all alone.

Oh, come on, Jack.

Don't be so pig-headed.

You heard what he said.

If we don't show up for his show,

we're going to offend him, and he's not

going to show up for my show.

Come on.

Hi, Greg?

This is Jack.

Did you cover that sibling murder last night?

Well, who did?

Okay, could you put him on the phone?

Oh, and Greg?

Greg, listen, any good photos of that woman?

None you could use, huh?

That's bad, huh?

Well, all right, put Steve on the phone.

Oh, and Greg?

Greg, listen, bring those police photos to lunch.

I don't have much of an appetite anyway.

All right.

Hello, Steve.

Yeah, Jack.

Yeah, her skull was pierced through the ears.

There was a lot of internal bleeding.

Her face was a black and blue bloody

mess.

Worst Halloween mask I've ever seen.

Well, Greg will show you the pictures.

Yeah, they identified her right away.

Yeah, they're contacting her family now.

There should be a good photo soon.

Yeah, take care.

Yeah, bye.

Get out!

I told you.

I don't know.

It could be.

Why don't you go back to the polo

matches and let us cover the homicides?

You know, that's fine with me.

This stuff's nauseating.

What are you, some kind of ghoul?

Me, a ghoul?

You're the one who wants to see pictures

of human ravioli for dessert.

What are you so interested in anyway?

Remember Montag, the magician?

The one that Sherry talked about on her

show the other day?

Yeah.

Well, that woman he saw in the half?

That's the same woman that they found cut

in two in a restaurant later that night.

You sure?

It was her, all right.

Sherry dragged me to see Montag again.

She wants him on her show.

Simply?

I don't know.

It could be.

And if it is?

And if it is, that means there's a

psycho out in the audience who gets turned

on by Montag's tricks.

And then he follows the subjects out of

the theater to do the tricks for real.

Or Montag himself.

Now, that would be what I call a

faceless publicity stunt.

But you know, it could be.

Anyway, as soon as you get a good

photograph of this sibling gal, I'll be able

to tell for sure if it's the same

woman I saw up on the stage.

I'll let you know the second it comes

in.

Ah.

Nothing more I can do except ask.

Isn't there one lady among you considerate enough

to satisfy your fellow human beings' lust for

blood?

Here's my volunteer now.

This handy little gadget is a punch press.

It is used to stamp parts out of

solid metal.

Tonight, we've made one little modification for this

performance.

I'm afraid we had to add the stock

to restrain the young lady from flinching when

the punch press comes crashing down on her

body!

Will a gentleman from the audience kindly come

up here and assist me?

Does this feel like solid wood to you?

It does.

Now let's prove it to the audience.

Strike it.

Now place it on the shelf of the

machine.

Thank you.

You may sit down.

Allow me to remove this pretty ornament.

It would be such a shame to ruin

it.

Allow me to show you the area you

will operate on.

Ah!

A A A

A A A Horrible!

Jack, do you really think that could be

true?

If the photo shows that the body they

found was the same woman that had a

thing put through her head by Montag the

other night, I'd say it was damn good

circumstantial evidence.

If someone is killing the women that volunteered

for the tricks, it couldn't possibly be Montag.

How could he have followed the first woman

to the restaurant when he was still on

the stage taking his vows?

And we were both with him when they

found the body of the second woman.

Yeah, but the first woman could have been

a ringer in the audience who Montag met

at the restaurant.

And we weren't with him more than 30

minutes the second night.

But like I said, if someone is killing

those women, it's probably someone not out in

the audience.

Well, if what you say is true, what's

going to happen to the woman that volunteers

for the trick tonight?

Won't the killer be after her?

It was just a wild idea.

I can't have some strange woman put under

police surveillance on a weird hunch.

They'd think I was the one that was

nuts.

Anyway, can you imagine a psycho chasing a

woman down the street, pushing a punch press?

No.

Anyway, I didn't come here to play scotland

yard.

Oh.

Oh.

Hello.

Greg.

It's for you.

Yeah.

Man, I've been trying to reach you all

night.

Finally get a good picture of that woman?

Yeah, that may be old business.

You saw Montag show again tonight, didn't you?

Yeah, only for the third time now.

Yeah, what was his coup de grace tonight?

Well, this time he punch pressed a woman

from head to foot.

And as usual, she came through it in

fine style.

Why?

All right, listen to this.

A woman heard a man screaming in the

apartment next to her.

She ran in, and her neighbor, a Mr.

Kowicki, was lying on the bedroom floor holding

his wife's head.

Yeah, the rest of her body was on

the bed about five feet away.

She looked like she'd been run over by

a threshing machine.

I'm at the 18th street station now.

Yeah, look, the cops have a photo of

Sibley and also the woman that was killed

tonight.

Now, you better get down here and have

a look.

Give me 15 minutes.

Let me see that photo, will you?

What the hell is going on?

Another psycho murder.

This time a woman completely mashed to a

pulp.

Remember Montag's trick tonight?

Oh, God.

I'm on my way to the police station

to look at that Sibley photo and the

photo of the other woman.

Hey, where are you going?

I'm going with you.

Listen, I saw those women.

I'm going to look at the photos, too.

All right, suit yourself.

Yeah, that's the woman.

I'm sure of it.

I was just inches away from her on

the stage.

What about the other one?

I'm sure that's the woman Montag had on

the punch press.

So where do we go from here?

So where do we go from here?

Have you told anyone else about the connection

you made between Montag's shows and the murders?

Well, just the people here.

Oh, and Montag.

So when did you talk to him?

Last night, right after the show.

That means if Montag is the killer, he

would have had to run out after Miss

Sibley right after you told him you suspected

a connection between the previous trick and the

restaurant killing.

And he would have committed tonight's murder knowing

you were in the audience.

That doesn't seem very likely.

Yeah, but there's nothing that's very rational about

any of these murders.

Sure enough.

But let's figure it this way.

No one knows we made a connection between

the show and the killings.

Other people in the audience may have made

the same connection, but if we keep these

photos under the papers for a day, they

can't know for sure.

All we have to do is attend tonight's

performance.

Keep the featured volunteer under surveillance after the

show.

If the killer goes after her, we get

him.

If he doesn't try tonight, we try again

tomorrow night.

And if that doesn't work?

We go back to old-fashioned police work.

You know what gets me about this whole

thing?

What really bugs me is that we haven't

been able to locate a single murder weapon

in any of the killings.

I mean the slicing is one thing.

I can even figure the skull cracking.

But you just don't mash a body like

the one we found tonight with a hand

weapon you can hide in your pocket.

It's as if all the weapons just disappeared,

like magic.

What could be safer than swallowing a sword?

No cycle mates.

No DDT.

No calories.

An excellent way to get your iron.

The only problem in swallowing a sword is

that if you wiggle around too much while

you're doing it, it may interfere with your

digestive tract.

Here we have the young lady's desserts.

Will a gentleman from the audience please come

up here and prove that these swords are

real?

I will.

Lethal.

You must be stage struck.

Come back here and take the sword.

We didn't figure out two volunteers.

Yeah, excuse me.

We'll have to split up.

Now sir, sever the rope.

Are you convinced the sword is real?

It appears to be.

Thank you.

You may take your seat.

I told you to take your seat.

I think I've been tempting you long enough.

With my little treats.

Now I guess we just go back to

your place and wait.

Hello?

Greg?

For God's sakes, what's happened?

Oh, that can't be.

Wasn't someone following them?

Greg, that's not possible.

What in the hell's going on?

Just a minute.

Holland was following one of the women in

a cab.

Her car stopped at a red light.

The light turned green.

She didn't move.

She didn't move at all.

He found her dead.

The inside of her body was completely ripped

out.

Kramer was staked out at the other woman's

apartment.

He hears a crash, goes in, finds her

dead.

The same way.

Her insides were just all torn apart.

Greg, who was in the car with that

woman?

Look, where are you now?

Good.

Okay, meet us at the police station.

We're leaving right away.

Goodbye.

Come on, honey, let's go.

I'm telling you, she was alone in that

car.

I saw her walk into the garage alone.

I saw her drive away alone.

I followed her for 20 minutes and she

was alone.

And I was 15 seconds behind her when

she stopped.

And she was still alone.

But someone could have gotten into her car

while you were waiting for her to leave

the garage.

And that same person could have killed Mrs.

Ross and then jumped from the car just

before you got to it.

That's not very possible.

Well, then you tell me, what is possible?

What about the one you were watching?

Could anyone have been in the room with

her?

Sure, there could have been someone waiting inside.

Or they disappeared to.

I was watching that front door from the

minute she went in.

And that back door was bolted from the

inside.

What about the window?

The only window that wasn't locked was the

one with the air conditioner in it.

And judging by the screws, that window hadn't

been open in years.

Look, you know, we appreciate your help in

all this, but I'm getting a little tired

of you playing detective.

There's a lot of things you haven't even

thought of, things that we've been considering for

a long time.

We've gone over this thing 20 times.

Some of the things, for example, is we're

looking for two killers, not one.

Two killers.

And if someone had been waiting in that

apartment for Miss Andrews, that person couldn't have

been at the theater to see Montag's trick.

And the person that was at the theater

couldn't have got back in time.

And another thing that you don't know, someone

killed a morgue attendant today trying to get

at the woman that was killed last night.

I'm sorry.

It's just that everything that's happened is so

impossible.

Look, let's just say improbable.

They did happen.

In fact, that's almost all we know.

Montag is scheduled to perform on your show

tomorrow, isn't he?

Yes, he's supposed to do some sort of

a fire trick.

But I guess that's out of the question

now.

Only if you want it to be.

What do you mean by that?

If Montag decides to do one of his

specialties, who would be the logical volunteer?

Wait a minute.

Now wait a minute, Jack.

I guess I would.

If you're willing, I'd like you to go

through with this act.

We'll be right by your side.

You'll be on guard and never out of

our sight till we catch the killers.

Your protection didn't help those other two women.

Well, now, he explained all that.

They couldn't possibly have been with the other

two both at the same time.

I'll be all right.

I'll do it.

Thank you, Sherry.

Well, I guess you're old enough to know

what you're doing.

Jack, everything will be all right.

Everything will go just as we planned.

You'll see.

Oh, please, Jack, what can go wrong?

Nothing much.

You can get killed, that's all.

Someone's going to be with me all the

time.

Listen, believe me, I'm no hero.

Too many things can go wrong.

Like what?

Just things.

Well, just in case they do, and I

cash in my chips and go to that

big network in the sky.

How about one for good luck?

It's not funny.

Well, where are you going, hon?

I have to go to the studio now.

I have to be there three hours before

the show, you know.

Just be careful.

Oh, you bet.

See you tonight?

The trick I am about to perform will

be the greatest illusion in my career.

You know, I'm sure you've seen many magicians

performing clever tricks, using volunteers from the audience.

But tell me, as you were watching them,

how many times did you get the thought

that those volunteers were actually henchmen of the

magician planted in the audience to dupe you?

Well, today I shall dispel any such skepticism,

for today I shall let every single member

of this audience participate in a trick that

will stagger the minds of our television viewers.

Afterward, they still may not believe what they

have witnessed, but you who are here will

believe, for you will have lived through it.

You will live through an experience that you

now think no living creature can survive.

But first, let us link our minds.

If you can see and hear me, both

here in the studio and in the viewing

audience, concentrate.

Concentrate on putting your being into my mind,

and I will concentrate on putting my mind

in your being.

Look deeply at me.

Let your eyes fly like spears from a

distance, breaking down the barriers between us.

Penetrate into my mind.

Penetrate into my mind.

Greg, look at your hand!

Our hands are bleeding!

Greg!

Our hands are bleeding!

Greg!

Greg!

Greg!

Look at your hand!

Greg!

Greg!

It's Montag!

He's doing it!

Montag!

We've got to stop him!

He's going to kill everyone!

Steve, look at your hand!

Steve!

Steve!

Miss Carson,

Mr. Harlan, Mr. Kramer, let us now join

hands and prepare for our journey into the

inferno.

Excellent.

Excellent.

Now we are almost ready.

Soon you will feel the exquisite warmth of

the beautiful flames before you.

What happened?

Montag was going to push everyone in the

audience into the fire.

He had everyone hypnotized.

Somehow he was making everyone's hand bleed.

They're not bleeding now.

His power must have died out.

What's with it?

Well, it's all over now.

I'm sure glad everything's back to normal again.

But there's so many unanswered questions.

Jack, why weren't you hypnotized?

Well, at all the performances we saw, no

one ever volunteered for the tricks until Montag

stared out into the audience.

Didn't you feel funny when he did that?

Well, when he started staring on that television

screen, I just refused to look at him.

Lucky for everyone you did.

But how could he hypnotize hands into bleeding?

How could he have killed all of those

women after his tricks?

What happened to all the stolen bodies?

If he was planning to lead all of

us into the fire, why did he die

when you pushed him in?

The whole thing's impossible.

It couldn't have happened.

Jack, what...

What?

You fool!

What makes you think you know what reality

is?

Tell me the truths of what can or

cannot be.

Oh, no.

You've been living in one long dream.

But now you're going to discover what the

real world is!

Aah!

Look at me now, if you dare.

Look into my eyes.

What will I see there?

The past.

And the future.

Do you think you're the only one who

deals in illusions?

You mean...

You?

You, too?

I, too.

And you, you are my illusion.

You are no longer even here.

You'll have to start your little charade all

over again.

But I...

I...

I am Montag!

Montag, master of illusion.

The fire of the laws of reason.

What is real?

Are you certain you know what reality is?

How do you know that at this second

you aren't sleeping in your bed, dreaming that

you are here sitting in this theater?

You know what I think?

I think he's a phony.

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