(bell chimes)
(footsteps)
Oh, it's you. I thought it was Sister Lucretia.
(woman) Wow. This is so beautiful.
You are such a good director.
I'll make you so happy you cast me.
I need to look at my butt again.
You'll wear out the tape, Malta. Come on, it's just a rough cut. Come on.
You dog! I want to watch it again.
Right here, I thought I was gonna puke.
Lew! It's your fault. That blood tasted like soap.
- It tastes fine, baby. - You try it, then.
- Hey! - Taste it.
This is a new shirt.
Oh, yeah? I'm gonna make you a star, Malta.
Give it to me, baby.
Soapy, soapy, soapy, soapy, soapy.
Come on, big-time director. Taste it.
OK. It does taste soapy.
I'm gonna go take a shower, while you...
go get us champagne.
Oh, it's you.
Here's to us.
Hurry back.
Lew?
(screams)
Oh, God. Oh, God. No! No!
No!
Manson, Bundy, Dahmer. Their cases are all well known.
But the case I'm about to describe is so horrific,
it should never be discussed outside this room.
It challenged every preconception. It followed no rules.
If it has a moral, I do not know what that moral is.
This story is so bizarre, I wouldn't believe
it had I not seen it with my own eyes.
I! All happened in the week leading up to Halloween.
- Hey, Frank. It's good to see you. - Thank you.
- Glad to have you back with us, Frank. - Thank you.
- So, you've been here before? - Yeah. 13 years ago.
Just about this time of year.
There were three murders a month. It was really bad.
- The Dale Barker murders? That was you? - Mm-hm.
They teach that case at the Academy.
Well.
(man) They're from California, in town making
a movie. You know who Malta Danbury is?
We counted 55 stab wounds.
The other one is the director of this here picture. Guy named Lew Carroll.
Malta was the star of this movie.
Stage blood. Tastes kinda soapy.
Human blood oxidises to a deep brown.
Mr Black, what is it?
Agent Hollis. What you learned at the Academy won't serve you here.
What kind of movie is this?
Action!
Never before in the annals of crime have I encountered a monster so heinous.
So deviously clever.
So hard to catch.
Kenny Neiderman, he's the producer.
Kenny, this is Special Agent Emma Hollis. And this is Frank Black.
Hey, nice to meet you.
When the predator is so elusive, I put myself in the madman maniac mind.
I call it profiling. A technique I invented in the FBI.
And that is howl plan to stop this madman maniac from murdering,
- or my name isn't Frank Black. - What?
Cut! Magic. Fantastic.
It's based on a true case you investigated, which makes you a public figure,
so we don't have to buy your rights.
- But if you want to sue, I understand. - I didn't say I wanted to sue.
Who was Marta Danbury portraying? That may inform the investigation of her murder.
Which victim did she portray in your film?
Eva O'Malley.
Eva O'Malley was a 40-year-old quadriplegic.
She got strangled in her driveway.
Sure, but it's more entertaining to see her get sliced up in a school shower.
And would you hide a tomato like that in a wheelchair? God rest her soul.
We need to talk to everyone who saw the victims recently.
OK. But just talk about the murders.
I don't need a bunch of hothead actors
thinking we don't have the rights to the story.
I knew both of them. I mean, Lew and Malta were...
- They were my clients. - Were you their agent?
- No. Their personal trainer. - When did you become a director?
When Lew was pronounced dead.
Live fast, die young, leave a pretty corpse.
I'm the star, and they don't even notice because it's Malta Danbury's last film.
- You're the star? - Yes, of course.
I almost get killed. Then I help solve the mystery.
Along the way, fall in love with the hero.
- FBI agent Frank Black. - It didn't happen that way in real life.
What are you doing tonight?
Uh...
I Was the toast of the English stage.
And now my name is above the title as "The Madman Maniac".
Did you study Dale Barker's behaviour to learn your part?
Olivier never met the Dane,
and I'll be damned if I'll talk to some pervert
killer about how to play this bloody part.
See, I got the part cos I'm a really good screamer. And I do nudity for scale.
The director said he would enlarge your role,
as compensation for Malta Danbury's loss.
Isn't that the greatest?
I mean... you know...
It's terrible about the death of Malta. But...
I'm at the beginning of my career, and I could really use the break.
Lucky you.
Let me ask you something, OK? Now, do you say:
(as Frank) "Special Agent Frank Black, FBI", or, "FBI. Frank Black"?
Neither.
How well did you know Marta?
I'm sorry. Frank Black interrogating a suspect. This is really cool.
OK. I bet you want to know about my childhood, right?
Was I a bed-wetter, did I set fires, was I cruel to animals?
It's not that kind of case yet.
No, but the 1985 case. That was a serial killer.
It was a sexually motivated homicide.
(as Frank) Sexually motivated homicide. (normal voice) It's good. No, I like that.
Hey.
- Can we rule anyone out? - Not from this group.
I can't discern if the attack was solo, or from a team.
Crime scene's ambivalent.
Some signs point to an organised offender.
Careful entry, lack of evidence.
Yeah. But other signs point to a disorganised offender.
Like the ritual violence of the attack on the woman. We're being followed.
Um, hey. Wait.
Mr Black? I'm Hugo Winston.
I remember you. The football captain, right?
- Well, 13 years ago. - Yeah.
Then Dale Barker murdered my fiancée.
Listen, they're desecrating her memory in there, making this sleazy movie.
Revenge won't bring her back. That's not what you're after, is it?
- Read the script. - No.
This will change your mind about these... bastards.
The killer in this story follows no known behavioural profile.
Barker's final victim was killed at a church picnic.
In this story, a band named KISS is playing at what resembles an orgy.
I can see where that would make a guy like Hugo snap.
- Neiderman. - What?
The producer, with the rings. The... (sniffs)
Yeah?
He spent several nights in Malta Danbury's room.
Suppose Marta was sleeping with Neiderman, but then throws him over for the director.
Neiderman gets jealous, finds them together in the hotel room, kills them both.
Interesting. You know, they're shooting tonight.
We can go keep an eye on both of them.
Hey, man.
Frank Black, FBI. (normal voice) That's how they say it.
- Let me ask you something. - What?
Say you're doing a full-contact interrogation.
You hit them with a phone book, no bruising, right?
No, we don't.
You are good.
(Gunshot)
(Rowdy) And cut!
Magic. Fantastic. That was terrific, people.
OK, let's set up for the money shot. Quickly!
- Hey. - Dale Barker never shot anybody.
Yeah, but check this. The Madman Maniac
shoots the boyfriend, then dresses like him.
- And when Ruby takes a skinny-dip... - He harpoons her. I read the script.
How can you label this a true story?
It is true. It's just improved a little, that's all.
- The reality is dark and depressing... - Yes, it is.
Frank, Frank, you know that, and I know that.
But all the people in those towns that you fly over on the way to New York,
they want to be entertained.
I wouldn't presume to know your business.
But there's an abundance of heroism and drama
in the real facts of any murder investigation.
Oh, yeah, sure there is, Frankie.
But it's complicated. The people, they're ugly, and it's dark and rainy all the time.
Where's the magic? The magic.
I'm glad that we had this little talk.
Ruby, baby. Time to get naked and die.
How did he get in here?
I'm sorry. You ready? Go and do your stuff.
- Who are they? - It's the insurance guy, the co-producer,
associate producers, every pissant functionary on the show.
- What are they doing here tonight? - Nude scene.
- Where's Neiderman? - He was here a minute ago.
Ah, just wait. That little horndog never misses
one of these. We're ready to roll, people.
- Roll sound. - Sound speed.
- Roll camera. - Turning.
- (man) Marker. - Action.
And we cut.
Magic. Fantastic.
Where's Ru by? Ru by?
You're the producer?
No. I'm not.
(woman) OK, that's a wrap.
(man) OK, people. Let's eat.
Sandwiches? Is this it?
- We spent the rest on your salary. - Oh, shut up.
Mmm.
- I told you it was safe. - The night's not over.
Well, we're wrapped, so nothing happened on my set.
(gauging)
Oh, my God.
They killed Neiderman. Neiderman's dead.
Our prime suspect, the producer, had become the next victim and the crew's dinner.
At that moment, I knew this case would pit me against horrors
that no FBI agent should ever have to
endure, and push me to the brink of insanity.
All we have is the possibility of a dental match on the bite marks.
It's a very clean crime scene.
Which is at odds with a person who feels compelled to bite fingers off.
- What kind of offender's that? - Disorganised.
Schizophrenic. Not the type to get in and out in ten minutes without being seen.
- A voyeuristic anthropophagiac. - What's that?
One compelled to watch others eat human flesh.
Or an avid fan of The Hitcher. The severed fingers are a direct quote of that movie.
So how many people may have seen that?
Besides our suspect, the entire film crew. It's their business.
And me. I've seen quite a few horror films.
This film connection doesn't narrow it down.
No. Any of a dozen people could be our perpetrator.
Even though we don't know who it is,
There is a decisive way we could stop the killing immediately.
(screaming)
You bastard! You'll pay for all the kids you've killed. Argh!
(man) Cut'.!
Who said that?
Who said "cut" on my set?
I did.
OK, that's it. It's over. Time to go home now, folks.
I'm notifying you this workplace is shut down by order of the sheriff. That'd be me.
You don't like my movie, so you pulled some strings with the heat.
So.
I've been doing a little research, and your guy...
Maybe he's got like a cooling-off period, and then...
- (as Frank) he will kill again. - Not now, he won't.
Hey. Hey, is it... That's it? This is all that's gonna happen to them?
Hugo, the movie's over. Isn't that what you wanted?
I... No, I... This movie's not over.
(phone rings)
Agent Hollis.
This is a hell of an angle.
Sarah Cr yer, unit publicist.
Do you mind if I say:
"This is the movie Frank Black didn't want you to see"?
Yes, I do.
Excuse me.
Bite mark analysis was inconclusive.
He was wearing dental prostheses, commonly used in motion pictures.
Whoever's doing this is trying to drive me insane,
for the third time in my life.
Mr Black, remember the suspect in Seattle who quoted Nostradamus?
The Frenchman.
What if, instead, he was quoting B-movies?
Wouldn't you want to study them?
(screaming)
He's her brother, he kills teenagers. That's it? No twists? No mystery?
It's supposed to be scary.
(screaming)
The mother of a child who's drowned suffers an extreme emotional displacement.
She adopts the hockey-mask persona until she avenges the death of her son.
You have hockey, you have young men, you have her son.
Where does it go from here?
A lot of people get killed?
- (screaming) - Oh.
Krueger's acting out a childhood trauma, by targeting sexually promiscuous teens.
He's either the child of a mentally unstable parentage,
or a rape victim. Or both.
He was the bastard son of a thousand maniacs.
It's as if our case is in one of these movies. They always happen on the holidays.
And Saturday is Halloween.
The victims are always some smug person who thinks they'll never die.
And the leading lady is always attacked last.
Exactly.
You know, we should quietly put some security around Ramona Tangent.
Precautions never work. If we follow the movie model,
- if you try to protect yourself... - Then you die.
You know, if we shut that movie down, and the
killer realises he's in a slasher movie...
Then he'll return here tonight to attack the movie crew.
And the whole crew is in this hotel.
- Come on. - Mr Black?
I thought you didn't carry a gun any more.
- First floor's quiet. - Copy.
So, what kind of movies do you like, Mr Black?
- Detective movies. - Oh. "The Enforcer" is my favourite...
(scream, then a thud)
- Mr Black, there's someone on the roof. - I'm on my way.
Agent Hollis?
Freeze!
At this point in the investigation, I began to ask myself why.
Why had four people been killed?
They died making a Hollywood movie, a movie based on a real case
I investigated 13 years earlier.
They took enormous liberties with the truth, and with my life,
in the name of entertainment.
Needless to say, I'm not a critic.
I was there to solve the crime.
We are all gonna miss Sarah Cr yer, our...
publicist. I mean, she was a can-do gal.
She knew when to leak, when to spin, when to just plain-out lie.
Then... Well, let's not talk about her frankly disgusting murder.
What do you think this is, a movie?
Four people are dead. Four.
The killer is in this room.
I know you're here.
And I'm gonna bring you to justice even if it drives me insane,
for the third time in my life.
Are you OK? I just came from the coroner's.
Death resulted from massive blood loss. The weapon appears...
A large butcher knife. Halloween.
Exactly. The corpse was posthumously dissected with...
A machete. Friday the 13th.
And there's no useful forensic evidence.
There's no fingerprints, no assailant's DNA.
This guy is a genius. He's ahead of us on every move.
Uh, ladies and gentlemen, the murder's been solved.
- What? - Filming will continue!
I'm Hector Leachman. I did it.
This is not your man.
I've seen this guy before. He was one of the extras.
You said it was one of ours.
Hector, what kind of gun did you use in the bowling alley murders?
- You do not have to answer... - Hey.
It was a .38. It's all right here in my confessional.
No one got shot. No one died in a bowling alley.
Um... excuse me. Uh, Mr Mayor?
We're spending a million dollars in your town, and we brought you the murderer.
I don't know what his problem is...
The killer's still at large. If he strikes again...
Need I remind you the FBI is here in a support capacity?
The written confession satisfies me.
Then, uh, I guess the filming can continue. Hm.
You're right. There was nothing like this at the Academy.
Ted Bundy described the experience of killing like watching himself in a movie.
Were there any horror movies on the night Lew Carroll or Marta Danbury were killed?
Mr Black, that's it. Psycho was on cable.
The shower murder fits perfectly. What about when Neiderman was killed?
The Hitcher was on pay-per-view.
- Sarah Cr yer died on Wednesday. - Halloween was playing.
A corpse drops out of a door.
Tonight... is Motel Hell.
A classic. Farmer Vincent never kills quickly.
He keeps his victims half-dead until he can make them into sausage.
Then we have a chance.
- (woman) A mark. - (Rowdy) Action.
(as Frank) This is important. Was Bobby a big fan of KISS?
No. He liked The Ramones.
Then we can conclude that the Madman Maniac is a KISS fan.
"We drive you wild."
"You drive us crazy."
They play here tomorrow. He will be there.
Cut! Magic. Fantastic.
(woman) We lost power.
(Frank) Head for the exit. Get everyone off the set.
Get out! Go, go, go!
(man) Oh, God, no!
Hugo.
Gaffers.
Vocal cords are severed. A quote from Motel Hell.
Call for backup.
(coughing)
No! Please, don't kill me. Please, don't kill me.
He's still here. He's just tried to kill me.
You're all right.
So Hugo Winston kills the movie people and hangs himself.
I knew Hugo in 1985.
I'm not buying this transition from football
captain to voyeuristic anthropophagiac.
But we saw him. What would convince you?
An autopsy. With some physical evidence that he's been eating human flesh.
We'll get that later.
What if it is someone else?
Then he'll attack the film crew with the same MO.
What's on television tonight?
It's Halloween. There are horror-movie marathons on every channel.
- I'm going to the set. - I'll go with you.
No.
Turn on the television. And don't take your eyes off that TV.
You keep watching that tube until we put this guy in custody.
- I'll be in constant contact. - Good.
Come on, Tommy. Unlock the door.
(screaming)
- (Rowdy) Everything's looking good. - (man) Follow spots are in place.
Let's get that smoke ball out here.
OK.
- Emma Hollis. - Agent Hollis? What do I look for?
A new movie just came on.
A man in a human skin mask wielding a chain saw.
Thanks.
171 stitches. You saved my life, man. Thanks.
So, the final scene. You know what happens?
- No, but you're gonna tell me. - Right. KISS is playing.
And I'm you. And the maniac is here, right? And I almost get him, and then...
he hangs himself. Just like in the real story.
It's practically a documentary.
- Break a leg. - Thanks, man.
(Rowdy) Let's go. Time is money. First team, ready? Sound, ready?
- (man) Ready! - All right. Standing by.
- (man) Move that crane back. - (mania?) Crane is moving.
(Rowdy) We're ready to roll, people. And playback. And... action!
"(I" Psycho Circus')
Cut!
Magic. Fantastic.
All right, let's set up for the next shot, people. Quickly.
Get me down. I feel like a sack of potatoes.
(Rowdy) Get him down.
Agent Hollis? No human skin mask, no chain saw.
It's all typical slasher fare so far, except for The Omen.
- What could he copy? - So far, a decapitation by glass
and a suicidal hanging at a children's birthday party.
I'll keep my eyes open.
(man) And playback.
(I "Psycho Circus" plays back)
- (Rowdy) Action. - (Screaming)
(phone rings)
- Agent Hollis? - No, Sheriff Neuenschwander.
Coroner's completed the autopsy.
(phone rings)
Emma Hollis.
I just spoke with the sheriff. Hugo did do it.
Human metacarpal fragments were recovered from his digestive tract.
Thank God.
It's kinda crazy, isn't it, that such a grisly
discovery would be a relief? Don't you think?
Yeah. Yeah, sometimes it is.
- Take the evening off. You've earned it. - Thanks. I will.
(screams)
- I talked to him two minutes ago. - I don't think so, pal.
It's like we're in a movie. The leading lady dies last. Where's Ramona?
- She's over there. She's fine. - Agent Hollis.
(engaged tone)
(knocking)
- Coming. - (Bianca as Frank) It's Frank Black.
Hugo's not our killer. The autopsy results were faked.
- Come on in. - Trick or treat.
- What, no treat? - (chain saw)
(Bianco as sheriff) Hey. Why don't you come
on out, honeybunch? Sheriff Fritz'|| save you.
(Bianca as Frank) I can be anyone you want me to be.
If you don't like him, try me.
You know I wouldn't hurt you.
I see what the killer sees.
Because I'm the killer.
And the cop, and the butcher, and the baker, and the candlestick maker.
Agent Hollis.
- Mr Black, watch out. - (gunshot)
Mr Black?
- (Frank) Drop your gun. - (Bianca as Frank) Drop your gun.
Wanted to be like you, Frank.
I wanted to see what the killer sees.
People die so you can play a part.
No. Not all of them. Just the first couple of victims.
But by killing them I learned something important.
Really?
I really like killing people.
And now I know what you know.
You know, pain means nothing to me.
(Frank) The autopsy proved Marc Bianca acted alone.
Why, then, did the crime scenes suggest there were two offenders?
Even during the commission of a heinous crime, he was in character.
It was Bianca's uncanny ability to completely immerse himself in a role.
A talent never seen before or since.
Some of the crime scene reflected his personality,
and some, the character he was playing.
Either he was the greatest actor the world
had ever known, or he was completely deranged.
If you want a good movie for Halloween night, rent Madman Maniac.
Judge for yourself. I give it two thumbs up.
Two severed thumbs.
Visiontext Subtitles: Paul Burns
(child) I made this!
English SDH