Summaries

Synopsis

The title and credits are shown over a picture of a man carrying a woman. We open at night with a truck pulling up to the La Salle Detention Home for Girls. A dormitory room contains over a dozen beds occupied by sleeping women. We zoom in on one sobbing woman. Tracy (Jean Willes) tries to comfort her. Big Marge Collins (Tina Carver) tells her its just one big party. A scream outside the dormitory wakes the rest of the women. Marge says, "They're at it again." She adds, "There will be somebody dead in the morning." Eric (Friedrich von Ledebur) carries a screaming woman to the main house. He climbs the stairs to the second floor. He enters an attic room used as a "treatment facility." Dr. Murdock (Victor Jory) directs Eric to place the girl in the tub of water.

The next day Marge brings one of the girls to the Dispensary with her. Mrs. Ford (Ann Doran) asks what's wrong with her. Anna Sherman (Barbara Wilson) tells her she can't keep her food down. Marge is having a bandage on her leg changed by Dr. Freneau (George Lynn). Anna is sent to the infirmary and Marge is sent to an isolation cottage, more for insubordination and her smart mouth, than some concern about her infection.

Tracy has a job working for Carol Adams (Charlotte Austin). Carol is the Social Welfare representative and has only been on the job a few months. Tracy handles clerical tasks for Carol. Tracy asks if the screams the night before kept her awake. Carol heard nothing and thinks Tracy is exaggerating. Tracy tells her, "I'll bet you a box of girl scout cookies that somebody died last night." Carol calls Mrs. Ford and asks if anyone died. She is told Angie Collins had a heart attack and died. Tracy casually comments that a review of the death records would be interesting reading. Carol agrees to look at them. She finds the records in Mrs. Ford's office and asks Dr. Myer (Victor Varconi) if the records, or death certificates, are available chronologically. He asks her if she has permission from either Dr. Murdock or Mrs. Ford. Mrs. Ford enters the office. She dislikes and resents Carol Adams and tells her so. She tells her to stay in her own department and mind her own business. A movie was scheduled for the inmates, and Carol returns to the dining hall to start it.

Mrs. Ford reports Carol's snooping to Dr. Murdock and the rest of the "medical staff." Murdock asks Mrs. Ford, "But you don't think she suspects anything?" "Not yet," is Mrs. Ford's reply. They fill the tub and Eric goes to the infirmary to collect another victim. This time it is Anna Sherman. When Eric gets to the treatment room he is already showing signs of the peculiar condition he shares with the others. His face is a translucent gray and white like marble. Myer and Freneau place Anna in the tub. Dr. Cooper (Paul Cavanagh) objects and is pushed aside by Murdock. Myer applies an electrical headband to the top of Anna's head. The apparatus transfers Anna's life force into Eric. Eric resumes his normal, but menacing appearance. The movie is over and the girls return to their dorm rooms. They find Anna's body hanging above her bed and scream. They call a matron. Tracy tells Carol that Anna just wasn't the suicidal type.

A coroner's inquest conducted at the main house shows Anna died of a severed spinal cord consistent with hanging. Death is deemed self-inflicted by hanging. During questioning, Carol tells the coroner she doesn't believe she was suicidal. Dr. Murdock questions Carol about conditions at the facility. Carol agrees there is no physical abuse reported. She is then questioned about her credentials. Murdock next questions Dr. Jess Rogers (William Hudson). He is a psychiatrist for the State Department of Mental Health. He agrees that a credentialed psychiatrist would probably have noticed signs consistent with suicidal tendencies.

The next day Carol packs her belongings from her office. She assumes she will be let go when Dr. Rogers arrives to take over her duties. Rogers asks her to stay and help him with the mental evaluation of the inmates. She asks, "Weren't you sent here to whitewash the prison administration?" Rogers tells her he was sent to get the truth. Carol agrees to stay and to help. Rogers goes to see Murdock in his office. Murdock is absent, but Cooper shows him in and casually mentions a painting on the wall is a Rembrandt. He says it was purchased in the 1800s, but then quickly corrects himself. This is the first clue that the medical staff is older than they appear. Murdock arrives and apologizes to Rogers for involving him at the inquest. Rogers tells Murdock that Miss Adams is to remain and work with him to find out whats going on. Murdock registers only mild surprise at the announcement.

Carol, Rogers, and Tracy begin their investigation. They question one inmate and she tells them the medical staff came about two years earlier. "That's when all the funny business started," she adds. She recounts the mysterious deaths. Mrs. Ford reports to Murdock that the Rogers team has interviewed seventeen inmates and has the names of eleven girls whove died under mysterious circumstances. Rogers and Carol go to see Marge in the Isolation Cottage. Marge concurs that Anna did not commit suicide. She was screaming and only Marge would have heard. Everyone else was at the movies.

The next part of the investigation, a review of the death records, is stymied by a "mysterious fire" involving the file room. Rogers asks Murdock for a complete history of all the employees. He also wants tissue samples of Anna Sherman examined and a full autopsy to be performed. Murdock disagrees and objects strongly. Against Murdocks orders, Rogers goes to the morgue to perform the autopsy himself. The medical staff runs down to the morgue to stop him. Rogers takes a tissue sample and examines it under a microscope. The medical staff confronts Rogers, so he lies to Murdock. He tells them she was alive when she hanged herself, supporting the coroner's conclusion it was suicide. Later with Carol he tells her that she was in fact dead, but he can't prove it with tissue samples alone. He does note that Cooper was not with the others during his autopsy. He thinks there is animosity between Cooper and his colleagues. Carol admits to being afraid and concerned for Dr. Rogers' safety. Rogers goes to see Cooper. While talking he hears a heartbeat. He tells Cooper it is his. Cooper tells Rogers to leave the facility, to get as far away as possible and to take Carol Adams with him. Cooper wants to tell Rogers the story but he can't. Cooper tells Rogers he has written it out, but he won't understand or believe it. If he should die or disappear, Rogers will find instructions in his mail. To convince Rogers, Cooper takes a pair of scissors and pounds them into his stone-like hand.

Cooper meets with the medical staff. They inform Cooper they won't "renew" him because, "You're continued existence is a menace to the project." Cooper is visibly turning to marble. A heartbeat sound gets louder. "220 years is too long for any man to live," Cooper observes. He admits to the group that he sent the whole story out, but he won't tell them who got his notes. They suspect either Rogers or Carol got his notes.

Rogers got instructions in the mail. A diary can be found under a large rock by the cliffs near the prison grounds. Rogers takes a crowbar and leaves the facility. His departure is quickly reported by the guard to Murdock. Eric follows Rogers, but falls holding his chest, we hear his pounding heart. Eric's treatments sustain him for shorter periods, something that worries the other medical staff members. Eric spies on Rogers retrieving the diary from a box under a rock. Rogers starts to read the diary. Cooper explains he was born in England in 1733. In the 1780s a group met in Paris and worked with a scientist on a project to prolong life. Rogers is interrupted by Eric approaching. He escapes and Eric falls over a cliff. Eric gets up to an audible beating heart and resumes his search for Rogers. Rogers continues to read the journal. It explains the process. The transfer of bioelectric energy from one person to another, results in the donor's death. They discovered the best source of life is young women of child bearing age. The medical staff's current goal is to synthesize the life force.

Eric goes on a rampage. He assaults a colleague then breaks into the dorms and roughs up some girls. He bolts. Rogers continues to read the journal. A section covers side effects. The stone-like shell appears when the person is close to death. Rogers hides the journal in a sign board by the side of a road. He walks back to the facility when Carol fails to arrive at their arranged time. Eric goes to the Isolation Cottage for Marge. The matron tries to stop Eric and she is killed. Eric picks up Marge and carries her outside and back to the main house. In the attic treatment room, Eric chokes Murdock until he agrees to one more renewal treatment using Marge as the donor. The process completed, Marge is dead, and Murdock gives Eric a sedative to keep him quiet. Rogers tells Carol and Tracy the story. When Carol tries to telephone the State Police she is told only Dr. Murdock can approve the call and he's out on the grounds. Rogers decides to go up to the attic room and stop them. He enters the house but finds the attic room locked. He kicks the door in. He finds Eric waiting for him and chases him downstairs. Murdock and Mrs. Ford find Eric but Rogers hid before they got into the house. He leaves the house and returns to Tracy and Carol. Murdock arms Myer and Freneau and tells them to bring back Rogers, Tracy, and Carol. They get to the switchboard, and Rogers and Tracy put in a call to the State Police. Before they can complete their call, Myer puts a bullet into the switchboard. Mrs. Ford injects Carol with a sedative. Rogers re-enters the house and goes to the basement. He finds Cooper, dead, and like stone. He also finds one of the dead girls. He shuts off the water supply to the house and pulls the fuses to the attic room. Eric is sent to get a sedated Carol. He catches Rogers, and drags both Carol and Rogers to the attic treatment room. To placate Eric, Murdock and Mrs. Ford tell him they are renewing him, but they lie to him. This gives Rogers a chance to crawl away. Rogers pours a chemical into the bath to neutralize the copper sulfate solution in the tub. Eric collapses. They put Rogers in the transference chair. They plan to make Rogers like themselves. Rogers tells them he neutralized the solution with sodium salts. Mrs. Ford empties the tub, but there is no water to refill it. Freneau goes to the basement to reinstall the fuses and turn the water main back on. They refill the tub and have electricity. Freneau manages to start a fire in the basement. The inmates join Tracy in a rescue operation at the main house. Rogers fights with Murdock. Several shots are fired and Rogers regains control of the gun. He orders Mrs. Ford and Murdock to free Carol. Murdock and Mrs. Ford stay in the burning attic to complete their notes. The house is now fully engulfed in flames. The girls return to their dorms. We close with Rogers and Carol walking away, with the burning house in the background.