Description
In New York City, during a séance held in the apartment of medium Theresa, Mary Woodhouse experiences a traumatic vision of a priest, Father Thomas, hanging himself in a cemetery of a village called Dunwich. When the images overwhelm her, Mary breaks the circle and collapses to the floor. The group presume Mary is dead, and call the police, who suspect foul play. Theresa warns the police chief of an imminent evil. Journalist Peter Bell begins to investigate Mary\'s mysterious death, and visits her grave as she is about to be buried. However, she is still alive, and Peter saves her after hearing her cries. Peter and Mary visit Theresa, who warns them that according to the ancient book of Enoch, the events Mary witnessed in her visions presage the eruption of the living dead into our world. The death of Father Thomas has opened the gates of Hell through which the invasion will commence on All Saints Day, just a few days away.
In Dunwich, a young vagrant named Bob visits an abandoned house, but flees after seeing a rotting carcass. Across town, Gerry, a psychiatrist, is in consultation with Sandra, a neurotic patient, when Emily Robbins, his 19-year-old girlfriend and personal assistant, arrives. She tells Gerry that she\'s on her way to meet with Bob, whom she has been trying to help. That evening, Emily finds Bob at a derelict garage exhibiting strange behaviour. The supernatural apparition of Father Thomas then appears as Bob runs away, smothering to death a frightened Emily with a maggot-covered hand. The next morning, Emily\'s body is found. Emily\'s father tells the sheriff and Gerry of his suspicions about Bob, due to Bob\'s previous history of crime. Meanwhile, Peter and Mary leave New York and embark upon their search for the town of Dunwich.
That evening, Bob returns to the deserted house, where he sees a vision of Father Thomas. After Emily\'s funeral, her younger brother John-John sees a ghostly image of her outside his bedroom window. At Sandra\'s house, the corpse of an elderly woman, Mrs. Holden, appears without explanation on her kitchen floor. Sandra calls Gerry for help, but as soon as Gerry arrives, the body has disappeared. The two search the house, but are disturbed by many strange occurrences, such as a window breaking, with the glass then dripping human blood. Meanwhile, Bob has taken refuge in the garage of a local man, Mr. Ross. Ross\'s teenage daughter Ann finds him and offers him marijuana, but Ross bursts in and attacks Bob, fearful he is trying to seduce his daughter. Ross kills Bob by impaling his head through a drilling lathe.
The following morning, Peter and Mary arrive at the graveyard that Mary saw in her vision. They begin searching for Father Thomas\' tomb and meet Gerry and Sandra. They go back to Gerry\'s office to discuss Father Thomas\' death, when suddenly the four are showered with maggots in an apparent supernatural attack. Gerry then receives a distressing phone call from John-John Robbins explaining his dead sister has returned during the night and killed his parents. They rush over the Robbins\' house and try to find the sheriff. While trying to get John-John to safety, Sandra is killed by Emily, who rips Sandra\'s scalp off. John-John runs through the streets of the town and is saved by Gerry, who hands the boy over to police.
Mr. Ross is drinking at a bar when it is suddenly attacked by the re-animated dead people of the town, led by Bob. Ross and two other men are killed, as a state-of-emergency is declared over the radio. Mary, Peter, and Gerry arrive back at the graveyard as the clock strikes midnight, and All Saints Day begins. They descend into Father Thomas\' family tomb, discovering a cave of skeletal remains and cobwebbed putrescences. Sandra suddenly appears as a zombie and kills Peter, before she is killed by Gerry, who impales her with a wooden spike. Mary and Gerry continue on until they face Father Thomas, who is commanding an army of the undead. Before he can kill Mary, Gerry grabs a wooden cross and disembowels Father Thomas. The priest and the other revived corpses burst into flames and disappear. Mary and Gerry exit from Father Thomas\' tomb into the graveyard at morning to see John-John and the police. Mary is relieved to see John-John survived the ordeal, but becomes frightened and screams as everything fades to black.
