(dramatic music)
(doors creaking)
(dramatic music)
- 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.
(eerie music)
- 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?
(chuckles) 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?
(upbeat music)
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!
(brakes screeching)
(Shirley screaming)
(crashing)
(crickets chirping)
(somber music)
- 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.
(dramatic music)
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!
(gong tolling)
And who is to be first?
(chanting and drum beating)
- One who loved flames.
Her lovers were killed by flames.
She died in flames.
(drum banging and crickets chirping)
(chanting and drum beating)
(somber music)
One who prowls the lonely streets at night in life
is bound to prowl them in eternity.
(Sultry music)
- [Criswell] 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.
(Sultry music)
- 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.
(Sultry music)
- I would see for approval,
the one who in life worshiped gold above all else.
(chiming dramatic music)
- Look! - Be careful, they'll see you.
(seductful music)
- Throw gold at her.
More gold.
More gold!
(laughing)
(seductful music)
(laughing)
(seductful music)
For all eternity, she shall have gold.
(dramatic music)
(laughing)
(bubbling)
(crickets chirping)
(dramatic music)
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?
- [Mummy] Yes, Master.
- Live ones where only the dead should be?
- [Mummy] Yes, Master, and we caught them, him and me.
(Wolfman howling)
- 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.
(crickets chirping)
(suspenseful music)
- Fiend, fiend!
- To love the cat, is to be the cat.
(crickets chirping)
(whip snapping)
(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!
(gong ringing)
- 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.
(dramatic music)
(screaming)
(dramatic music)
- 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.
(salsa music)
- She came to us on the day of the dead.
- El dia de los muertos, a celebration in her country.
(mariachi music)
- Her dance has pleased me.
(island jazz music)
- With the loss of her lover,
this one cast herself into the volcano's fire.
- She was?
- As I said, a worshiper of snakes,
and of smoke, and flames.
- Oh, yes, a religion of sorts.
- It would seem so, Master.
- [Mummy] I don't like snakes.
I remember the one Cleopatra used.
Cute little rascal until it flicked out that red tongue,
and those two sharp fangs.
You'd never think such a little thing
packed such a big wallop.
- [Wolfman] Argh, hurt her?
- [Mummy] Hell it killed her!
(Wolfman growling)
We had lots of snakes in my ancient Egypt,
slimy, slinky things.
(Wolfman howling)
When I was alive,
they were the things nightmares were made of.
(Wolfman growling)
(island jazz music)
(Wolfman growling)
(island jazz music)
- She pleases me.
Permit her to live in the world of the snakes.
Now, I will talk to the Wolfman and the Mummy.
- As you wish, Master.
- [Mummy] He wants us.
Ah, what do you suppose for?
(Wolfman growling)
Did you do something to get us into trouble again?
(Wolfman growling)
Did you howl off-key at the moon again?
- Uh-uhn
- [Mummy] I can't remember doing anything wrong either.
- Come!
- [Mummy] We better go before we make him mad.
We are your servants, Master.
- Of course you are.
- [Mummy] Have we in some way made you angry, Master?
- [Criswell] You know better than that.
- We don't know of anything, Master.
- [Criswell] Then why do you shake so?
- It's not often an emperor like you
calls on creatures like us.
- Well rest easy, I'm not angry with either of you.
- Ah, then it is some service you desire of us.
- You are the keepers of the damned.
You two know them all,
and I am tired of this usual type of entertainment.
I want a decided change.
- The moon, is soon gone!
There is little time left
for the remainder of the evening's pleasures.
- Yes, yes, yes I know all that.
- At the first sight of the morning sun's rays,
we must be gone.
- I suppose most of the others will have to wait
for their judgment until after the next full moon.
- It would seem so, Master.
- Ah, but I declare there is still time for something.
- [Mummy] There are one or two which should complement
the night's entertainment, Master.
- Ah, good.
Then I will see them, dismiss the rest.
- [Mummy] Yes, sir, Master.
(dramatic music)
- The ropes are coming loose.
- [Shirley] Be careful!
- I am, it's our only chance.
- Nothing is worth your life.
- My guess is if we don't take the chance pretty soon,
we're not going to have much life left anyway.
- I'm frightened, I'm so frightened.
- [Bob] Hold on just a little longer, Shirley.
- Be careful, oh please be careful.
We'll never get out of here alive,
I know it, I just feel it.
- You do?
- Yes I feel it in my bones.
- You're talking nonsense.
- Oh, no I'm not.
These heathens probably have an open grave for us.
- They wouldn't dare put us in the same grave.
Or would they?
- [Shirley] I should hope not, I hate you!
- That sudden?
- [Shirley] Yes, that sudden.
If it weren't for you we wouldn't be hunting
for an old cemetery on a night like this.
It's all your fault.
- And I thought you loved me.
- Not yet, I perhaps have other plans for such a pretty one.
No matter, I will tell you when and if you may have her.
(suspenseful music)
- The Wolfman informs me that the next one
is the woman who murdered her husband
on their wedding night.
Now she dances with his skeleton.
(ominous music)
(upbeat jazz music)
- Have you not enjoyed the evening's festivities?
Ah, that will soon change when you become one of us.
(Wolfman howling)
It would seem that the Wolfman
would have you for his own.
(screaming)
I have promised both the Wolfman
and the Mummy a reward.
It could be that you are that reward.
(screaming)
You need not worry, not just now anyway.
- Leave her alone, you fiend!
- Fiend is it!
You will not be so fortunate.
Your existence will cease within moments.
No one wishes to see a man dance.
And you, my dear, will entertain for centuries to come.
- If I could get my hands on you!
- Oh, you could do nothing!
I can save you much pain.
- Leave her alone, I tell you!
- [Criswell] I do not joke in my proposals.
- She is to be mine, it is so spoken!
- The Princess of Darkness would have you for her own
to join us through extreme pain.
Yet I am inclined for one as lovely as you,
to be more lenient.
I have but to touch you with my finger
and it would mean the end of you,
all over, quickly and painlessly.
- No, no, no!
- I repulse you?
Very well, it seems you have chosen your own fate.
Live with it, I should say die with it!
- I've got the ropes loose now.
I've got my hands free.
Be careful, don't change your expression too much.
They must not catch on.
- What can we do against them?
- I don't know, yet.
We'll just have to watch our chance.
When it comes, I'll know what to do.
I hope I'll know what to do.
- I still don't know what ever made me go steady
with a crackpot writer like you.
- All right, put it on heavy.
- My old boyfriend Tommy
would never have gotten me in a mess like this.
At least he's got brains.
- Him!
I'll bet he sleeps with all the lights on.
- Maybe so.
- [Mummy] I could make her another Cleopatra.
- [Wolfman] Argh ha ha!
- [Mummy] Without the snake, of course.
- Well? - Ah, she will be yours.
- When? - At your discretion,
but first, I desire more entertainment.
- The moon is almost gone!
- Ah, there is yet time.
- At the first sight of the morning's rays' light.
- I know the laws of the night.
I state there is still time for yet another.
- I would have time for my own pleasures!
- Your own pleasure comes only after mine,
when I desire it.
I am the sole ruler of the dark world.
There is no one to challenge my authority here.
My word is the law, all powerful.
No one is to challenge that authority, no one!
Is that understood?
It is my command.
- I understand, Master.
- Then see that it does not happen again,
in the penalty of everlasting despair.
Now are there others?
- There are others.
- Well then let us proceed.
- [Princess] She lived as a zombie in life,
so she will remain forever a zombie in death.
- Easy, Shirley, easy!
(ominous music)
(discordant jazz music)
- The moon sinks lower into the hills!
We must hurry to the finish.
- I will decide the conclusion.
- You had the Mummy cancel
all the others scheduled for this session.
- Then cancel my order.
- The moon is almost gone!
- There is yet time.
Don't you want your own pleasure?
- Oh, if there is only time!
- Ah, there is always time!
All in good time, there is always time.
You shall have your pleasures, that I decree!
- All others were but infinitesimal bits of fluff,
compared to her.
This one would have died for feathers, furs, and fluff,
and so she did.
(sultry jazz music)
- The time, is short. - For what?
- Your pleasures of course!
- You mean? - You may take her now.
- Is there time?
- You better hope there is.
- Thank you, Master, thank you!
- Now hurry, hurry, I will watch!
Your desires may be my pleasure also,
our fitting climax to an evening's entertainment.
You must hurry now.
(suspenseful jazz music)
(dramatic music)
(lighthearted music)
- Easy, Miss, everything's gonna be all right.
- Bob, Bob?
- He's right here beside you, he'll be all right too.
- Where are they, where did they go?
They tried to kill me.
- What's this you say?
Who was going to kill you?
- The ghouls, they all turned into skeletons.
- Take it easy, Miss.
- What she needs is a good rest.
- It's true, I tell you, it's true!
They all turned into skeletons.
She, she cut me here.
- Probably was bruised in the crash.
- You know, you two were very lucky.
- I love you Bob, I really do.
Forgive me?
- There's nothing to forgive, it was all a dream.
- You love me then?
- Of course I do.
- Quick, quickly.
Easy does it, careful.
That's pretty bad there, sure enough.
- As it is with all the night people,
they are destroyed by the first rays of the sun,
but upon the first appearance
of the deep shadows of the night,
and when the moon is full,
they will return to rejoice in their evil lust,
and take back with them any mortal
who might happen along.
Yes, they were lucky, those two young people.
May you be so lucky.
But do not trust to luck at the full of the moon.
When the night is dark,
make a wide path around the unholy grounds,
of the night people.
Who can say that we do not exist, can you?
But now, we return to our graves,
and you may join us soon!
(dramatic music)