Ursula Howells

Torture Garden -- Anthology film consisting of four stories bookended by Burgess Meredith as Dr. Diabolo, a carnival barker, who provides four patrons with glimpses into their future.

Torture Garden -- Anthology film consisting of four stories ('Enoch,' 'Terror over Hollywood', 'Mr. Steinway', and 'The Man who Collected Poe') bookended by Burgess Meredith as Dr. Diabolo, a carnival barker, who provides four patrons with glimpses into their future. The final episode in which Poe's spirit is conjured up from the great beyond is especially effective.

A special sideshow torture exhibit has the power, according to showman Dr. Diablo, to warn people of evil in their futures. As skeptical customers are shown the greed and violence they're hiding, one of them snaps and kills Diablo. When they run off, we see the murder to be staged as part of the show. One of the customers has hung around to see this, and wants to make a deal with Diablo, aka the Devil.

An attempted political overthrow in Northern Italy fails, causing most of the mercenaries hired by the coup leaders to flee. For Martin (Rutger Hauer) this is not the case, he intends to rob his duplicitous former employer Arnolfini (Fernando Hillbeck). Using a stolen religious artifact as a talisman, Martin raises his own army. He later abducts Arnolfini's future daughter-in-law Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who evades gang rape by professing eternal devotion to her captor. Along with a deadly plague, weeks of plunder and destruction follow.