Description of The Effect
The effect is similar in some ways to the illusion Impaled, although Drill of Death is larger and features additional elements. It can be presented either as a straightforward penetration illusion or as an "escape gone wrong" piece, in which the audience are first given the impression it is an escapology act of the "predicament escape" type and then given the shock of seeing it appear to go wrong with apparently fatal consequences for the performer.
The apparatus consists of a massive drilling machine mounted on a framework that is a little like a short section of railroad track. At one end of the track, nearest the audience, is a raised frame large enough to hold a person. At the beginning of the performance the drill is positioned at the far end of the track with its long helical drill bit pointing horizontally forwards. The performer is chained to the frame with her torso in line with the drilling axis. A cover, consisting of translucent paper stretched on a circular frame, is attached to the apparatus in front of the performer, obscuring the centre of her torso. The machine is then started: the drill bit rotates and the machine begins advancing slowly towards the performer. Then the device appears to go out of control and speed up (sometimes with pyrotechnics for added drama). The drill appears to penetrate through the struggling performer, whose legs, shoulders, arms and head remain in full view and whose lower torso is seen in silhouette through the translucent cover. The tip of the drill emerges and rips through the cover, at which point both the forward motion and rotation of the drill bit stop. The cover is removed to show the limp body of the performer seemingly impaled on the end of the drill. The machine then begins to tilt the drilling axis upwards, in the process pulling the performer from her restraints and raising her high into the air. When the drill's axis is vertical the bit begins to rotate again, spinning the performer's limply spreadeagled body around. The drill then stops and lowers the performer back onto the frame, where assistants cover her torso with a blanket and seemingly push the drill back out of her. The performer then appears to revive and steps from the apparatus to take a bow.
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