"Shoot him, drown him, hang him, zap him with kajilion volts - hey, it's a living! A man who receives a surgical graft of a cat's nine lives becomes a carnival sensation with his dying act."
- -- DVD description for the episode
Plot
On a busy night at the Big Top Carnival, ringleader Barker (Robert Wuhl) leads a group of patrons into a show featuring “the tragedy of death and the miracle of resurrection“. Sideshow daredevil Ulric ’the Undying‘ (Joe Pantoliano) plans to resurrect himself after performing his biggest stunt of being buried alive for 12 straight hours. He waves goodbye to the crowd, locks himself in a coffin, and lights a candle for himself. He confidently recalls how he has gotten to this point.
Many years before, Ulric is living on the streets when he is approached by Dr Emil Manfred. He gives Ulric an opportunity to make a lot of money by agreeing to a unique procedure. Ulric goes with the doctor to his lab, where he has been studying ”cat” scans and has concluded felines have glands inside their brains that grant them nine lives - he plans to kill a cat and surgically plant its glands inside Ulric in the hopes it will give him the same. An excited Ulric agrees and goes through with the surgery, which turns out to be very painful. To test out the results, Manfred shoots Ulric in the head — while dead for a brief moment, Ulric successfully resurrects himself. A giddy Manfred pays Ulric the original money he promised, but then they concoct a plan to make even more.
The two head to the Big Top Carnival and pitch a show where Ulric is killed in front of live audiences but rises from the grave. Barker gives them a shot — their first performance has Ulric resurrecting himself after being drowned in a tub of water. A perky assistant named Coralee comically asks Ulric out as the water rises. He drowns, and after another hour, the tub is drained so he can return to life. He resurrects himself and the happy crowd cheers. The act makes them rich and Ulric starts a relationship with Coralee.
Opening Segment
"Good evening, fiend fans and welcome to my crawly crypt. This little drama is just about one of life's unexpected pleasures: dying, that is. Most of us only get to do it once and it's all over before you can really enjoy it. But one man did get to die again. And he liked it so much he started doing it for a living. This is the story of Ulric the Undying a sideshow performer who found death not only fun, but profitable. In fact, he's dying to put on a show for you right now."
Closing Segment
"There, there. Nice kitty. Get! Hope you enjoyed our little bedtime story, kids. Alas, poor Ulric, missed a bet. Though Dying for Dollars could have been a popular game show. They could have put it in between Wheel of Misfortune and the Newly Dead game. Unless they buried it in the wrong time slot."
Trivia
- This episode is available on disc one of the Tales from the Crypt: The Complete First Season DVD collection.
- The ringmaster tells Ulric that HBO has sent their check. Tales from the Crypt was produced and aired by HBO.
- Director Richard Donner cameos as an audience member during Ulric's burial death and can be seen chanting "Ulric, Ulric, Ulric"! along with the crowd. His wife, Lauren Shuler Donner producer of the X-Men franchise, is sitting beside him.
Gallery
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