Orgy of the Dead

I am Criswell!

For years I have told the almost unbelievable,

related the unreal, and shown it to be more than a fact.

Now I tell a tale of the threshold, people,

so astounding that some of you may faint.

This is a story of those in the twilight time,

once human, now monsters,

in a void between the living and the dead.

Monsters to be pitied, monsters to be despised.

A night with the ghouls,

the ghouls reborn,

from the innermost depths of the world.

- We sure picked the wrong night to find a cemetery.

Let's turn back.

No, it's on a night like this

when the best ideas come to mind.

- But does it have to be in a cemetery?

You wouldn't understand.

Seeing a cemetery on a night like this

can stir in the mind the best ideas for a good horror story.

- But there's so many wonderful things to write about, Bob.

- Sure there are, and I've tried them all;

plays, love stories, westerns, dog stories.

Huh, now there was a good one, that dog story all about--

- But horror stories, why all the time horror stories?

- Shirley, I wrote for years without selling a single word.

My monsters have done well for me.

You think I'd give that up

just so I could write about trees, or dogs, or daisies?

Daisies.

That's it, I'll write about my creatures

who are pushing up the daisies.

Your puritan upbringing holds you back

from my monsters,

but it certainly doesn't hurt your art of kissing.

- That's life, my kisses are alive.

- Who's to say my monsters aren't alive?

All of my books and stories are based on fact, or legend.

That's perhaps why they're more interesting

and sell in the top spots.

- Well, fact or not, I don't see how we're gonna find

an ancient cemetery in these mountains tonight.

I can't see a thing.

Let's turn back.

- There's an old cemetery on this road.

I've been there before.

I'm getting the jitters.

Let's turn back.

- Okay, just as soon as I find a place

wide enough to turn around.

Not so fast.

Not so fast!

It is said on clear nights,

beneath the cold light of the moon,

howls a dog and a wolf,

and creeping things crawl out of the slime.

It is then the ghouls feast in all their radiance.

It is on nights like this most people

prefer to steer clear of, uh, burial grounds.

It is on nights like this,

that the creatures are said to appear,

and to walk!

The day is gone, the night is upon us, and the moon,

which controls all of the underworld,

once again shines in radiant contentment.

Come forth, come forth, oh Princess of Darkness.

Time seems to stand still.

Not so the ghouls, when a night of pleasure is at hand!

If I am not pleased by tonight's entertainment,

I shall banish their souls to everlasting damnation!

And who is to be first?

One who loved flames.

Her lovers were killed by flames.

She died in flames.

(drum banging and crickets chirping)

One who prowls the lonely streets at night in life

is bound to prowl them in eternity.

- Ahh, the curiosity of youth,

on the road to ruin.

May it ever be so adventurous.

I'm so frightened.

- Well we certainly can't stay here, come on.

Where?

In there.

It frightens me.

- Silly, there's nothing in there to be afraid of.

Then, then what's that music?

That's what I wanna find out.

We have to get help.

- What help can we possibly find in the cemetery

at this time of night?

- Well, something's making that music.

- I'm not sure I care to find out what it is.

- All right, don't worry, I'll be right beside you.

- What help will that do if something in there isn't dead?

Not dead, in a cemetery?

- I can't imagine anything dead playing that music.

- Well, it's probably just the caretaker,

and that's exactly who we want to find.

They'll have a telephone.

Come on.

- Could it be some kind of college initiation?

It's an initiation all right,

but not of a college as you and I know them.

Nothing alive looks like that.

Can't we get out of here?

I'm not sure.

What do you mean?

I'm not sure of myself.

It's just a feeling I've had since the crash, like,

like I feel a cold chill all over.

Now this.

I would see for approval,

the one who in life worshiped gold above all else.

- Look! - Be careful, they'll see you.

Throw gold at her.

More gold.

More gold!

More gold!

For all eternity, she shall have gold.

And both couldn't help but remember a line

from one of Bob's stories, a sudden wind howls.

The night things are all about me,

every shadow, a beckoning invitation to disaster.

I know I should think of other things, of pleasant things,

but I can't.

How can I think of other things, of pleasant things,

when I am in a place surrounded by shadows and objects,

which can take any shape, here in the darkness,

any shape my mind can conceive?

Bring 'em in!

They are live ones?

Yes, Master.

- Live ones where only the dead should be?

- Yes, Master, and we caught them, him and me.

You shall both be rewarded.

My dear empress of the night,

put these intruders to the test.

- But they are not yet one of us.

A situation easily remedied.

'Fe them that they may watch.

Fiend, fiend!

- To love the cat, is to be the cat.

(Playful music and whip snapping)

- A pussycat is born to be whipped.

It will please me very much

to see the slave girl with her tortures!

(whip snapping and woman groaning)

Torture, torture, it pleasures me!

Torture, torture, it pleasures me!

Torture, torture, it pleasures me!

I'm so frightened.

You've got a right to be.

We're trapped by a bunch of fiends.

Those creatures!

Don't let them hear you.

What can we do?

I don't know.

I just don't know, but don't give up.

We're not finished yet.

Easy Shirley, easy!

Panic won't do us any good!

Let me think.

We've got to stall for time.

I'm afraid I'll faint.

- Whatever you do, don't do that.

Hold!

Let her continue to learn.

The time is not yet right that they should join with us.

And what is this?

A symbol, Master.

What kind of symbol?

- She loved the bull ring and the matador.

She danced to their destruction.

Now she dances to her own destruction.

Her dance is of skulls.