Paul Daniels Halloween Illusion

[PandemonicHypercube]

Hahaha I remember this. We really did think he was dead at that time. In my defence, I must have been about 7 or 8 at the time.

[Deadleycheetah77]

he dident die, he appeared later on and said he was fine

[DrJReefer]

Iron Maiden?

EXCELLENT!

[fez012]

Oh my god I remember watching this when I was 8 and it scared the crap out of me! Great to see it again!

[JosephAnderson939]

omg i was scared like hell :S

[JonLovejoy]

I was 11 years old when watching this - I remember vividly the black screen and running downstairs to tell my parents Paul Daniels had died.

[ryanbrownnew]

why doesn't the bbc release the paul daniels series on DVD ? and that other major magician before him the Nixon fella?

[Kropotov]

Did he died?

[234nightfox]

@Kropotov no he did not die because i saw him on strictly come dacing this year (2010)

[DrJReefer]

@Kropotov No, he didn't died. Cunt had everyone thinking he had all night though.

You can imagine our disapointment.

[sh1ttyhorror]

I remember watching this on live TV when I was a wee girl - I thought he was dead at the end and I had a panic and wouldn't go to bed. So I was allowed to stay up for a little bit longer (I'm in Scotland - Sportscene was on next!) and I was ever so relieved (and finally agreed to go to bed) when he turned up swinging on the Iron Maiden after the end of the next programme.

One of my earliest memories - trauma by Paul Daniels!! :)

[diodewatch11]

i remember watching this live , it was eerie. he should do another one

[Wisdomdesign]

oh my gosh, and I even thought iwas going to be good. How lame.

[furiouschopstick]

This sucks no answers we didn't even see if he survived or not....

[samuelvargthunberg]

@furiouschopstick Since it is a trick and Paul is still alive and well today I´m sure he did survive. ;-)

[AmazingGordo]

@furiouschopstick

Yeah, the ending sucked. The finish of a death defying illusion should always be clear. The magician must be seen to triumph over overwhelming odds. To do stuff like this is to be cruel to your audience. I expected much better from a great magician like Paul Daniels.

[GaryOuellet]

@AmazingGordo Paul Daniel's is not the first magician who did end a show like this. Before him there was another great magician doing the same on TV with the Buzz saw. Sorry but his name suddenly escaped from my mind.

[AmazingGordo]

@GaryOuellet Do you mean the late Richiardi?. I did know that he would do an extremely gory illusion where he appeared to cut his daughter in half with a saw, blood and guts all over, and then just ended the show without letting the audience know she was actually alive and well. That's awful! I never really saw much of his work, since I find it gross and disgusting, but Criss Angel loved the guy!

[diodewatch11]

@furiouschopstick he did have to do another live clip saying he was ok about an hour later as so many people freaked out

[fifiragdoll]

OH WOW I saw this at the time and it scared the hell out of me, but i had started to think id dreamed it

[fascistamericadotnet]

i had to switch off i always get nervous when i'm pregnant lol

[123milkdud]

so he died?

[radlord]

@123milkdud yep

[tightropetomg]

@123milkdud No, it was an illusion, but they didn't tell the audience or the TV viewers at home that until later. The show received the highest ever number of complaints to the broadcast authority

[RebelVoDKa]

@tightropetomg

It didn't help that it came a few months after a member of the public had been killed rehearsing a stunt for the Noel Edmonds show.

[tightropetomg]

@RebelVoDKa Gosh, I'd forgotten all about that...

[hank3rox]

I remember watching this as a kid & actually thinking it was real !?! As I recall, so did quite a few other people & Paul Daniels was slated in the papers the day after. Ah well, it was the 80s & we were all a bit more innocent back then :-)

[mandtrott]

wheres the video? just a black screen

[MavisRileyJunior]

Get some glasses??

[furiouschopstick]

@MavisRileyJunior NO seriously nothing happened its just a black screen what happen??

[bakhtn]

press refresh

[forStBernadette]

daniels was quite good, but he never knew how to dress it up abit, good illusionist but a shit showman

[gculloty87]

Absolutely Applemask he might be unlikeable tory dickhead as you say but I'd rather watch this than seeing Derren Brown predict the bloody lottery numbers.

better than strictly or X Factor for that matter aswell.

[prnkstr222000]

Paul is dead !

[234nightfox]

@prnkstr222000 NO he did not die because if he died how could he be on strictley come dancing (in the us i think it is dancing with the stars or somthing)

[p0ab]

31st October 1987

[kerispring]

I must have been about 10 when this was shown, staying at my grandparents. I remember being so scared something had gone wrong. The clip cuts off a little too short as during the credits you heard people start to 'panic' as they left the room, supposedly realising it had gone wrong. When he came out after the news to show he was ok, I was so relieved (as was my grandad I expect, thinking he'd be up all night with an upset 10 yr old!)

[Applemask]

I'd have liked to see the whole credits too.

[p0ab]

I'll be uploading the full end credits in the next few weeks.

[p0ab]

They're now on.

[ukdeejay]

Remember watching this live on Halloween, BBC1, which back then was quite the novelty for non-news programmes (easy tiger, I'm not frackin' ancient or summat!). It was the so-called pre-recorded VT tacked on the end (not included here, unfortunately) that really sold it.

Paul Daniels: The Ringo Starr of magicians - he's an easy target to take the piss out off but a damn sight better and more talented than history records.

[mrchopper]

I like how he proves the spikes are all solid, then proceeds to run his wand over the rubber spikes that make no sound @01:11 (the ones in the middle).

[bakhtn]

i can remember when me and my sister used to watch this when we were small. Sitting infront of the television on the floor, and our mum telling us not to sit so close to the tv because we will damage our eyes. Damaged our eyes but it was worth it.

[retronostalgic]

Iron Maiden! Great band!

[elfo182]

fucking A!! ^_^ /

[6Nicad6emus6]

The rattle of chains on Halloween are wonderful indeed!

[Applemask]

Wow. That is absolutely chilling. You forget how good he was, since he's such an unlikeable Tory dickhead, but he was really, really good.

[Loosecrewproductions]

There was one he did when he got flattened by giant concrete dominos style slabs. He'd been grabbed by some guys in dark cloaks. Very odd.

[mrkbroster87]

they makers of the SAW films should do something like this

[jammsbro]

I remember seeing this as a kid and being really shocked by it. I still tell people about it even today.

[Schnorbs]

Quite possibly the scariest illusion ever! I must have been about... seven or thereabouts when this was on. My parents shielded me from the worst, and luckily my grandmother's TV was on the blink.

[helgaedm]

but but

[paulevans75]

Whatever happened to Phil Cool and Wizbit?!

[paulevans75]

"Haha, this a way, haha, that a way...donkey-doos Debbie!"

[zillionairemark]

..where's the bit at the end where he re-appears after the 10 o'clock news on top of the castle wall and says "now that's magic"...???

[wignpen]

cool i remember this as a kid though back then it wasnt as i was a kid the programme ended when the door slammed and you didnt find out he was ok till after the ten o clock news.

paul daniels is a legend

[jackjude]

Nasty little man.Indeed a cunt

[CADAVERHUSK]

i saw this when it was broadcast as a 10 year old and i was a bit upset.....when i found out it wasn't for real.Only joking,Paul Daniels is an aquired taste but i like him...not a lot.seriously i do :-)

[sparrowshead]

Paul Daniels is such a cunt I hope that was his death.

[stevey018]

Well it obviously didnt go wrong ------- TESCO!! "SPOOKY!!!!!"

[LordGohda]

I beleive Houdini did do a Maiden torture cabin escape. At least it sais so in his book. Then againPaul didn't say Houdini hadn't done it, just that he would love it.

[DAVIDRCGRAY]

Paul Daniels is a legend, i remember this circa 88/89 Fantastic !! Cheers

[mesteryman11]

i remember that trick amile smith is right that is what was supose to happen but i tryed that new trick and it went wrong i was at nere ecsape if you look closely you will see a rip in the screen that was my foot but it happend so fast i had five spikes in my chest they took me out and then all i remeber is seeing five holes than i past out i woke up the next day they sowd the wounds shut and i was sower

[MavisRileyJunior]

No one has heard of Valentino,where is he now? Paul Daniels is a legend over 30 years in the business.Valentino isnt going to be around then.

[Toddthedidger]

Its the masked magiacian from "breaking ther magicains code-secrets of magic revealed".

[MavisRileyJunior]

I know who he is,but still no-one knows him by his real name.

[meangreen4321]

@Oblivi0usbyme

That's his style. You're right it's not always as entertaining, but it's different and sometimes I enjoy his thoroughness in explaining the trick. I guess it's to satisfy the skeptics among us.

[AMileSmith]

He's done the trick wrong. He's supposed to not escape, the door clangs shut, then is opened by one of the monk people, revealing it to be empty the monk in question takes of his hood and shows himself to be none other than Paul Daniels!

[pyro27]

i might be wrong but i think valentino was the masked magician i maybe wrong tho

[bumperboy]

it was a halloween special so u are suposed to think that something went wrong, i remember watching this as a kid and it scared the shit outta me.

[MFrymus]

hu?

first time watching him... and...

what just happened?

[vashtijoy]

I've never forgotten this.

Of course with hindsight it's obviously a setup - he does nothing but talk for five minutes about how it's going to go disastrously wrong!

[bryanpage]

I was quite young when this was broadcast and wasn't totally sure he wasn't dead until I met him a few years later!

The part after the news where he said that he hoped we "enjoyed that ILLUSION" was pre-recorded, so that didn't really convince me that he was okay. There were a lot of children who didn't sleep much that night!

[thecardman]

Thanks for posting this!  I vividly remember this being broadcast, along with the headlines the following day of the BBC switchboards lighting up like Christmas trees with people wanting to know if he was dead or alive.

[lostinbass4]

I watched this and the lights went down. After the news he came on, opened the door and said trick or treat. There was a half an hour gap so it got people talking. And remember, this was the 80s so people were slightly more believing in televison!

[MavisRileyJunior]

Not sure he did that really.

[lostinbass4]

He did.

[spong8]

no this is just a one part show magician enters then dies. Its a classic halloween illusion.

[MavisRileyJunior]

Yes see what you mean.I think it was a two part show,on either side of news.I must upload the reveal of him alive.

[daytonville]

Um...I'm not sure I "get it"...meaning, how does this play to a live audience? Is this the last trick in his act or do the lights go down and rise on him in another "scene". I get the surprise ending, but it seems so fake in a way, because if he was really injured (or worse) everyone in his team would respond...but they don't. So, he's all right, there's no surprise from his crew. Has anyone seen this live?

[MavisRileyJunior]

It was live on a TV in front of live audience for Halloween so its not a part of his regular act.

[daytonville]

Okay. Just checking. I love Paul Daniel's work normally. He's an expert craftsman. But in this one, I guess, I never felt he was in danger, especially when no one (even the audience) reacts like a man has just been punctured to death. Everyone is so peacefully calm on the screen. So I wasn't sure what the audience was "witnessing" or did they know he was going to do 4 or more tricks after this one. See what I mean?

[MavisRileyJunior]

Correct.

[hippymobster]

wut the hell, they dont even show that he got out. i guess they were tryin to make everyone think he didnt.

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