- After the death penalty is abolished, an executioner continues his former job through freelancing...
- After working for two years in the electric workshop of a penitentiary, the electrician Niles Talbot has been promoted to executioner, operating an electric chair, and he appreciates his job. When the death penalty is abolished in his state, Niles loses his job. But he decides to become a vigilante, punishing criminals that are released by justice system. Until the day that the death penalty is implemented again in the state.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- MAIN FEATURE: Niles Talbot (William "Bill" Sadler) is a good electrician who actually loves his job: he is the executioner of a state prison where all executions take place on the electric chair. Niles talks about his job. He loves it. He is the only one who dares to look to the face of the last mile prisoners on the last second, and always gives them a second charge just in case... Many of them, like Charley Ledbetter (J. W. Smith) shout that they are innocent, but the governor never phones to allow them to live.
However, now Niles is sad. The state has rejected the death penalty, so he is without a job, as he is not needed anymore. He complains because nobody wants to give him a different job, as everybody is too afraid of being in touch with death, or somebody who worked around it. So he ends up living the seedy side of life. One day, he watches with disgust how the accused gets freed on a technicality, so he decides to kill him.
His next victims will be ambitious Theodore Carne (Gerrit Graham) and his lover, who killed the wife of the first. Niles gets into their home and catches them both in the jacuzzi enjoying his freedom and the money he inherited from his wife. They offer Niles all their money and valuables, but he says he doesn't want that. And he just kills them by frying them with electricity.
When he attempts a third murder, he is stopped by the police (Tony Abatemarco). He is sentenced to death, just at a time when death penalty has been reinstated. In spite of all his shouting that the governor will call granting him mercy, he is killed. The new executioner is as cruel as he used to be, and enjoys his job as much, so he also gives him a second shock... just in case.
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What is the broadcast (satellite or terrestrial TV) release date of The Man Who Was Death (1989) in Canada?
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