Original subtitles

SERLING: Tonight's stars:

Dana Andrews,

Sandra Dee,

Brock Peters,

Patrick Macnee,

and Denise Nicholas.

The name of this place, should you have come in here accidentally out of the rain,

is the Night Gallery.

We deal in paint, pigment, light and shadow,

realism, surrealism, impressionism, and ghost stories.

Item number one over there,

it could be a gentleman sitting in an electric chair, but it isn't.

What it depicts is in a sense a method of execution

that we humans reserve for other humans

who happen to be dissimilar to us.

You're about to look under that hood

and meet firsthand one of the different ones,

tonight's first excursion into the realm of the unusual.

Na, na, na, na, na, na.

Victor is a prunehead.

Ugly, ugly, ugly, freak, freak, freak.

Na, na, na, na, na, na.

Ugly, ugly, ugly, freak, freak, freak.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Victor is...

You kids get out of here! Get out of here before I call the police!

Vic? How's my boy?

Oh, what do those kids know out there anyway?

What's that old saying?

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."

You mind if I sit down?

But they do hurt, don't they, Vic?

They explode inside you and they tear you apart.

They make very private scars.

I try chasing them away, you hear me.

But the little monsters keep coming back.

And who chases them away when I'm at work?

That's why I've been thinking,

for some time now, that perhaps

you'd be happier somewhere else.

Where?

With boys like yourself.

Where you could get out under the sun, get out of a dark room.

Where you could exchange ideas, make something of your life.

Where is this utopia, Father?

I didn't know there were any freak shows left.

Vic.

Or are you gonna put me in a jar of alcohol and on display in a chamber of horror?

Don't talk like that.

Why not?

Afraid of the truth?

Don't you see? There are no boys like myself!

Your son is one of a kind! I'm a classic example of a mistake.

Do whatever you want, Father, just leave me alone.

It's not what I want.

Believe me, it's not what I want.

Information.

I'd like the government office which is involved with population.

There are several subdivisions for population, sir.

What particular department did you have in mind?

Whatever the outfit is that...

Go on, sir.

Whoever is involved with deformed children.

That would be the Office for Special Urban Problems.

One moment, sir, I will connect you.

Special Urban Problems. How may I help you?

My... My son...

Well, my son has a deformity.

Your name and sector, sir?

Koch. Paul Koch. Southeast Sector, Residential 2B.

The mother's name?

Elizabeth. But she is deceased.

The name of your son?

Victor.

Age?

Seventeen. Seventeen-and-half.

And the deformity, sir. Birth or accident?

Deformed at birth.

And the nature of the deformity?

You're turning away from screen, sir. I can no longer see you.

Would you please turn back into my vision?

What was it you asked?

The nature of the deformity. If you could just give me some general idea.

Maybe this will give you a general idea.

Now appearing on your screen, a living nightmare, Victor Koch.

Ugly, ugly! Freak, freak!

So, I'm afraid, Mr. Koch, there's very little this office can do.

At least in the area of placement.

You mean there are no institutions?

Not for a case like your son's.

The Federal Conformity Act of 1993 covered cases of mental incompetence.

But, of course, were his condition alterable, medically speaking...

Well, I've taken him to a dozen doctors.

They all tell me there's nothing that can be done surgically.

That's unfortunate.

He's a bright boy. He has an exceptionally high IQ.

And he's a nice kid.

I've no doubt.

But you've pretty much reached the proper conclusions on your own.

I know he can't stay with me any longer.

Every day, he goes more inward to himself.

Soon there will be nothing left. There must be someplace for him.

I've already told you. There are no private or government sectors

which institutionalize this kind of a case,

which leaves us with the only remaining alternative.

You mean kill him?

That would be in the nature of a medieval value judgment, Mr. Koch,

not applicable in this day and age.

To put someone to sleep for humanitarian reasons

is hardly an act of murder.

You'll take a human life, and you say it's hardly an act of murder.

What do you call it, an act of charity?

He's my flesh and blood, my son.

Suit yourself, Mr. Koch. You have the alternatives.

Your son can remain with you for the rest of his life,

or you can do the right thing.

Yes, even the charitable thing.

Thank you for your trouble.

Yes?

Are you handling a case involving a deformity? Seventeen-year-old boy,

file number 783T966B?

Koch. That's correct. Just a moment, Mr. Koch.

Yes.

Check contemporary bulletins in your relocation rulings.

74X9C.

Immediately.

Apparently, Mr. Koch,

there are some new procedural avenues still open to us.

Won't you sit down, please?

As you know, we have exchange programs with several of the populated planets.

In most cases these are cultural exchanges,

scientific exchanges for prescribed periods.

I'm reminded of a new arrangement with a planetoid called Boreon.

We've had no mutual visitations with this planet,

but considerable voice communications.

They told us that they were extremely anxious for emigrates.

Males especially.

Seems the place is seriously underpopulated.

Additionally, they've indicated that they would place no restrictions of any kind

on whomsoever we wanted to send.

And they're willing to finance the entire operation.

Now, isn't that the sort of thing that Victor might find to his liking?

Tell me, is it the sort of thing you might find to your liking?

Not really.

But then, Victor doesn't have too much choice, does he?

About ready, Son?

Yup.

I wish there was something more I could say.

Please, Father, no long goodbyes.

And I wish I had some idea what this place was like.

Is that what's bothering you?

Well, if it were a desert, a frozen tundra,

a pit where the sun never shines, it would be better than this.

Let's go, huh?

Eight, seven, six, five,

four, three, two, one, zero. Ignition.

Did you just get off the ship?

From Earth?

That's right.

You the welcoming committee?

Not really. I'm going back to Earth on the return leg.

I've been waiting years to get permission.

You're not from...

Yes, I'm from here.

This is the first exchange we've made, your planet and mine.

I wish you luck.

You, too.

Could I ask you something?

Why are you leaving?

Look at me.

What's... What's wrong?

Are you kidding? "What's wrong?"

You don't have to be kind. I'm used to being this way.

I am used to the reactions.

Well, I hope everything turns out all right for you.

Mr. Koch?

You're Victor Koch from the planet Earth?

Very pleased to welcome you, Mr. Koch, to the planet Boreon.

He's gorgeous!

Quiet, he'll hear you.

Come on.

Mr. Koch, we do hope you're going to like it here.

The climate is very temperate, and in terms of language and art,

I think you'll find it almost identical to Earth. The cultures are very similar.

I think I'll be very happy. I feel as if I belong.

Jealousy is what we normally paint green.

And jealousy provides the springboard of this particular painting.

It offers up the bottom line of what can happen to human beings

when trust is wiped out by suspicion.

At this point, it ceases to be just a kind of titillating tale of human comedy,

it becomes what it is, a horror story.

Our painting is called Tell David.

The weatherman predicts a continuation of warm and sunny days...

What about the nights?

With a high tomorrow...

Can I help you?

I was looking for Hanley Road, and I took the wrong turn somewhere.

Come on in.

David's looking for his map instrument. I'm Pat Blessington.

My name is Ann.

Would you like some coffee? It's already made.

No, thank you.

But I wonder if I could use your telephone. I'm afraid my husband might be worried.

Oh, certainly. It's right here.

Please. It's on.

Perhaps you'd like to program it to try again in five minutes?

Yes, thank you.

I hate to presume upon your hospitality any more than I already am,

but you wouldn't happen to have a cigarette, would you?

Oh, we don't smoke, of course. Hardly any of our friends do.

But there may be a pack in here.

David always prides himself on being the complete host.

Yes, here we are.

Thank you.

Pacific. I've never heard of this brand.

Oh, is there another?

That shows you what an insulated life I must lead.

Have you been driving around long?

Seems like days. You know, at first,

I didn't really think anybody was home. It was so dark.

Then I thought, well, you had your curtains drawn.

Only...

One-way glass.

It gives you the feeling of privacy and freedom at the same time.

You saw me drive up then?

Just the headlights. It was too dark to see inside.

I've never tasted a cigarette quite like this.

It's refreshing.

No tars, no nicotine.

I must remember the name. Pacific.

Keep them, why don't you?

You're very trusting.

For giving you a pack of cigarettes?

For letting me in just because I said I was lost.

Suppose I had somebody with me and we came to rob you, or worse.

Look. See this screen behind me?

I thought it was an abstract painting.

Not quite. Closed-circuit TV.

That's fantastic.

Just another gadget, really. But then, David loves gadgets.

Gadgets, Pat, technological stepping stones.

Ann, this is my husband David.

Take this map instrument. Please.

A few years back, it was nothing more than a wild notion in some engineer's head.

Now David Blessington,

Mr. Everyman, is going to make it work for him.

Let's see now, we're on map seven. Here. That's where we are now.

And you wanted?

Hanley Road.

Holbrook, Haller... Here it is, Hanley. G-7.

There it is, Ann. That's the quickest route.

I'm afraid it's just another map to me.

A lot of wiggly lines running into each other.

Well, maybe you better write it down then.

Here's a paper and a pencil.

Now, when you leave the driveway you take a right,

and you keep going for about a mile to Meridian.

You take a left on Meridian, you go to Carson.

You take a right on Carson,

and that should take you right into Hanley Road.

You think you'd be able to make it from there?

I'm sure I will. You've both been very kind.

Don't you want to try calling your husband again before you leave?

No. No, it's all right. With this to go on, he'll see me soon enough.

Ann,

Pat doesn't have many friends her own age, we live so far out.

Perhaps you could come visit some afternoon.

Could you?

I'd like that.

Are you free Monday?

Monday's fine.

Tony?

Tony?

You're late, you're late!

You said you'd be home at 7:00, and it's 8:30!

I got lost.

That's a likely story, a likely story.

It's the truth! I had to stop and ask directions.

I stayed home cooking all day! All day!

You said you'd call and you didn't and the roast burnt!

Who were you out with? Who were you out with?

I know there's someone else! I know there's someone else!

No! No!

You don't love me anymore! You don't love me anymore!

I do! I do!

You don't! You don't!

Tony, stop it, please!

Please!

Is that how I sound to you?

Like an old hag?

Sometimes, beautiful.

Sometimes.

Well, I wouldn't if you didn't give me a reason.

If you'd just show me a little more consideration

and treat me the way you used to.

I haven't changed, Ann.

No? Well, I can remember a time when you could hardly wait to get home.

And now all you do is look for an excuse to stay away!

I'd hardly call working late at the office an excuse to stay away!

And the times you stop for a drink after work with the boys?

To unwind!

You can't unwind with your own wife?

Yeah! Like I'm doing now!

Tony, I'm sorry.

Forgive me?

What's this about getting lost?

I took a wrong turn somewhere, and then this storm came in.

Storm? It didn't rain here.

Well, it must've been a summer cloudburst, the kind you see in the distance.

Only I was right under it.

And I did phone and our line was busy. Who were you talking to?

No one. The phone hasn't rung all evening long.

Well, maybe Yvonne was using it?

Yvonne's upstairs in the nursery.

Tony, don't lie to me, I got a busy signal!

Then maybe you dialed the wrong number!

What do you want to hear, Ann, that I'm keeping some woman on the side?

Would that make you happy?

No! I just want to know that you still love me.

Is that asking so much?

You have my word for it.

I'm never going to love anyone else.

The little one refuses to go to sleep.

Tony, let's go say goodnight to him.

Oh, cosmic! I knew you could fix it, David.

Didn't I tell you my husband had a passion for gadgets, Ann?

But that's awful music. It must come from some underground station nearby.

I never hear it at home.

That's all they're playing now. Electronic, cosmic, mind-bending.

You're dating yourself, Ann.

Well, I'll let you ancients alone.

Thanks again, David.

You're so...

I know, I'm cosmic.

Yeah, yeah.

Do you have children, Ann?

A son. Also David.

How old is he?

He'll be four shortly.

I remember my fourth birthday.

At least, I remember cutting my thumb when I was trying to slice the cake.

I still have the scar.

Poor baby.

Do you two want any children?

In a year or so. We're still getting to know each other.

But you already seem so much in love.

No. It's all a front, don't believe a word of it.

No. There's trust, and that's important.

I saw it in your face, Pat, when that girl kissed David.

It didn't seem to bother you.

Why should it?

I know David loves me.

I know my husband loves me,

but if a girl that young and that pretty showed him that much affection...

What?

I'm afraid I'd be very jealous.

The old green-eyed monster strikes again.

And again and again. Sometimes I think he lives right in my body.

Then you should send him an eviction notice, Ann,

because he can be a very disruptive tenant.

You sound like you've had some dealings with him.

I have.

David, please.

No.

Tell me.

My mother was also a very jealous woman,

and it destroyed her.

How?

How does the monster work?

Subtly, at first.

It enters your system like a chill, and then it grows like a cancer.

You begin by imagining things that never really happen,

and then things happen that you imagine.

A few days after my fourth birthday, my mother imagined that my father

was in love with someone else, so she killed him.

That's awful.

Yeah. That's only the beginning.

Shortly before her trial, she killed herself, too.

Who raised you?

A distant relative of my father, a woman named Blessington.

She gave me this name so I wouldn't be haunted all my life by the scandal.

I'm so sorry.

Just be very careful of that monster, Ann,

'cause there's so much to lose.

I really should go now. You must come visit us sometime.

I know my husband would love to meet you.

I'd like to meet him.

Ann, I have a photograph of my mother.

I was told she picked it out for me herself.

She was a very beautiful woman.

Poor baby.

I only turned around for a second and he tried to cut a piece of his cake.

Oh.

Honey, I'm sorry I wasn't here.

Where were you?

I told you, I took my cousin Jane out for a drink.

What cousin Jane?

That's right, you never met her.

She lives in the east. Jane Blessington.

How do you feel?

I'm Tony's cousin Jane.

Take care of him, Jane.

Tony's fine. And you'll be yourself in a day or two.

Not Tony.

My son, David.

Take care of him,

and tell him...

Just take care of him.

You look better already.

Flowers for my beautiful lady.

Let me put these in water for you.

Tony,

you've got to listen.

That night I got lost, remember?

It was our son's house, Tony, David.

Only he was all grown up and married.

Ann...

Tony, please. You've got to listen.

Some... Somehow I was projected 20 years into the future.

That's why it was raining there and not here.

Ann, you said it was a cloudburst.

That's what I thought.

But when I think back...

The gadgets, the lighting, even the music.

It was all out of the future.

Ann, honey, you've been under medication.

Tony, please believe me.

David said, because of his mother's jealousy,

she killed his father and then herself.

And that he was raised by a woman named Blessington.

And she gave him her name.

Ann, even if you didn't imagine this, I'm sure it's just a coincidence,

and there's a perfectly natural explanation for it.

We're just gonna call David Blessington and find out, okay?

He's not in the book, is he?

No.

And he won't be for another 20 years.

That's why I got a busy signal when I called home from there.

We didn't live here anymore.

Honey...

Tony, please.

Our son was trying to warn me.

He knew I was his mother.

He didn't want me to kill you and kill myself.

He didn't want it to happen.

Ann, it's not going to happen. I'm your husband, remember? I know you.

You're good and you're kind and you're gentle

and you're not going to hurt anyone.

You don't believe me! Oh, dear God, what am I going to do?

Pacific. I don't think I've ever heard of this brand.

Oh, is there another?

June 7, 1989. Now he'll believe me.

Come on, Tony. Quick!

Oh, yes, I want it. - No.

Yes. No, it belongs to me.

You're impossible.

Come on. Come on. Stop it.

I want to see you again and again and again.

You're so sure of yourself, aren't you?

Tony, are you sure she's asleep?

Stop it, Tony.

Tony.

Oh...

No, Ann! Please!

I'm going to see to it that you have a good lawyer, Ann.

I know you were ill at the time.

No, I won't need a lawyer.

But of course you will.

No. I'm not going to stand trial. I know this.

Just as I know that David will grow up to be happy

and have a good life.

Pat's just right for him.

And most important,

I know he's going to forgive me.

You see, he kept my picture.

He said I was very beautiful.

Item number three in the Night Gallery.

You probably recognize this quaint figurine.

The dead eyes, the sewn lips, the kind of thing that usually infests nightmares.

And that happens to be precisely what it is.

A nightmare of the first order.

It's title, Logoda's Heads.

Here we are.

Logoda's hut?

Sergeant Imo?

That woman over there by the fire, tell her we want to meet Logoda.

Look.

People die in Africa just the same as they do all over the world.

The only difference is here they don't always bury them.

Your brother's an anthropologist.

Isn't this the sort of thing he came out here to see?

I suppose so.

I joined him just for the adventure.

Neither of you should've come out here in the first place.

My brother had an official permit to study native culture.

If it had been left up to me, that permit would never have been granted.

I warned him to keep off Logoda's territory.

The witch doctor holds a lot of power in these parts,

especially this witch doctor.

He'll see us now.

But you let me do the talking, Henley.

You're in a world you don't understand.

Perhaps no white man really does.

You honor us with your hospitality, Logoda.

We've come a long distance to see you.

A long distance through a very hot jungle.

Come on, ask him about my brother.

In due time.

Logoda, a white man is missing.

So,

a white man is missing.

He crossed the river 10 days ago.

Ten times the sun, he came this way.

Have you seen him?

No white man.

How about the people in the village? Did they say he was here?

Village far away.

People no come here.

They come. Every day they bring you offerings of food,

and every night they come for your magic.

No white man!

Let me have that.

I told you that I'm in charge here.

I'll get the truth!

We have no right to anger him with groundless accusations.

We have no proof that your brother is dead.

He is dead.

I know.

Wait.

Who are you?

My name is Kyro. I live in the village.

What do you know about my brother?

He says if I speak, he will put a curse on me.

Kyro, you seem to be an intelligent girl.

You don't believe that a curse can be more powerful than the truth.

Your brother came 10 days ago.

He said he wished to study our ways.

How long was my brother here?

Only a few days. Last week, he learned of Logoda.

He left to come here, but he never returned.

I begged him not to come, but he said he must.

He wanted to see Logoda's heads.

Heads?

In there!

He says the heads are powerful magic.

It is very bad for anyone to look at them.

Well, we shall see.

If you'd rather not, if you're afraid...

Mother of Satan! Where did they come from?

I've heard stories, but I never thought they were true.

What kind of stories?

That Logoda casts a spell on his enemies so that they sicken and die.

Then he takes their heads to dry over a slow fire.

Heads, talk to me.

Say you brother no come here.

Drown in river.

I don't believe it.

This is some kind of a trick!

You're not going to let him get away with it.

I still intend to look around some more, Logoda.

Logoda makes you welcome.

Don't think you've heard the end of it, Logoda.

I'm every bit as stubborn as you are clever.

Logoda is a simple man.

We better get started.

Wait!

What is it, Kyro?

Please take me with you.

To the residency?

But you must.

No! Kyro belong in village!

Not if she wants to go with us.

Of course we'll take you.

It's quite a distance. I hope we get back before dark.

So do I, for all our sakes.

I still don't understand what you were doing in that hut with those heads.

It is better you do not know.

We're your friends, Kyro. You can trust us.

You would not believe me.

Listen.

Logoda's drums.

He makes his magic tonight.

Don't worry. We're here to protect you.

Promise me one thing.

Tonight when I sleep, put a guard outside my door.

A guard?

Logoda will try to come to me.

Perhaps in the shape of a man or an animal.

Or a tiny, deadly snake.

You can't be serious.

Promise me.

You'll have your guard.

Everything all right?

Yes, sir.

Well, good morning. You slept well?

Yes. After the drums stopped.

That's right. They did stop. Just after midnight.

I wonder what that means.

Major Crosby, come quick.

What's the trouble, Sergeant?

The old woman was here from Logoda's hut.

She say Logoda is dead.

Dead? How did it happen?

She say Logoda sleep in hut all night alone. She watch, no one come.

In morning, she go in. She find Logoda.

You still haven't told us how he died.

She say Logoda murdered.

No, wait. I'll go alone.

No. Don't go in there.

What is it?

Logoda's throat, his entire body,

ripped and torn as though wild beasts attacked him while he slept.

There were no beasts, Major.

Only my magic.

Yours?

I knew Logoda killed your brother, but I couldn't prove it.

So I have avenged him in my own way.

How?

When I was in there by myself,

I knew Logoda could make the heads speak,

but my magic is stronger.

You see, I know how to make them kill.