Description
American television reporter Dean Miller (Hugo Stiglitz) waits at a small European airport to interview a scientist about a recent nuclear accident, when an unmarked Lockheed C-130 Hercules military plane makes an emergency landing. The plane doors open and dozens of armed, deformed men burst out and attack the military personnel on the runway; they are impervious to most injuries and bullet wounds and are relentless in their assault, stopping only to consume the blood of their victims. Miller flees the airport for the TV station where he works and tries to alert the public, but General Murchison of Civil Defense (Mel Ferrer) will not allow it. Miller then tries to find his wife Anna (Laura Trotter), a doctor at the local hospital, as the crazed assailants overrun the city, their ranks swollen by their former victims.
Several zombies attack the TV station, forcing Miller to flee to the hospital. That evening, a group of fiends attack the city\'s power station, destroying it and plunging the city into darkness. Miller arrives at the hospital as it is being attacked and manages to rescue Anna. They then flee in a stolen ambulance.
Meanwhile, General Murchison meets with military officers and scientists at a hidden bunker where they find the attackers are contaminated humans who have been mutated by radiation. They speculate that the scientist investigating the leak at the state nuclear power plant was apparently infected with radiation and, in turn, infected others aboard the military transport plane, leading to the outbreak. The infected humans are incredibly strong, very fast and have lightning reflexes. However, they are unable to regenerate red blood cells, leading to their appetite for blood. The only way to kill the infected is by destroying their brain.
Murchison\'s daughter Jessica (Stefania D\'Amario) and her husband, Bob, are on a holiday getaway in the country, oblivious to the carnage overtaking the city. Murchison sends a pair of officers to locate Jessica and take her to safety. When they arrive the couple\'s campsite, they have already been infected and kill both Jessica and Bob.
Major Warren Holmes (Francisco Rabal), Murchison\'s official aide, telephones his wife Sheila (Maria Rosaria Omaggio), staying at their country house, where he tells her about the crisis and warning her not to leave the house. Sheila is then visited by Cindy, who is oblivious to what is going on. Two infected men break into the house and kill Cindy. Sheila then manages to kill them before they can fully attack her.
The next day, Miller and Anna get out of the city and have to stop at a filling station. There they are attacked by a small group of infected. Miller makes a Molotov cocktail and blows up the zombies, along with the ambulance. The couple continue on foot, trying to evade the zombies who are now roaming the countryside. They take shelter in a local church, only to find an infected priest, who Miller is forced to kill.
Meanwhile, Major Holmes arrives at a local air base only to find it overrun and leaving the military with no air support. General Murchison keeps in contact with his military units fighting a losing battle against the growing numbers of infected. Major Holmes flies to his house to rescue his wife, only to discover that Sheila is also infected, forcing him to kill her.
Miller and Anna escape from the church and arrive at an abandoned amusement park that is also overrun. Arming themselves with sub-machine guns and grenades from dead soldiers, Miller and Anna kill several zombies, but are forced to flee. They climb to the top of a roller coaster to escape when Major Holmes happens to fly by on his way back to Murchison\'s command post. Holmes lowers a rope from the helicopter, allowing Miller to climb aboard. However, Anna cannot maintain her grip and falls to her death, much to Miller\'s horror.
Miller then jolts awake, revealing the whole story to have been a dream. He then rushes to meet a scientist at the airport. But when he arrives, a military plane makes an emergency landing, repeating the events of the beginning of the film.
