Description
In 1940 California, college student Paul proposes to his girlfriend, Leslie Hollander, in the cemetery where they shared their first kiss. During the proposal, Caleb Croft—a serial rapist and murderer in life, now a vampire—awakens from his crypt. Caleb brutally murders Paul and rapes Leslie. A local lieutenant, Panzer, investigates the crime, and interviews a vagrant named Zack who, in a drunken stupor, discovered Leslie in the cemetery. It is discovered that Croft's tomb is also empty.
Panzer visits a catatonic Leslie in the hospital. When he shows her a mugshot of Croft, she violently recoils. Panzer explains to his peer, Sergeant Duffy, that Croft was a prolific murderer and rapist in Massachusetts, who was electrocuted to death in the Boston Subway while attempting to flee from police. To prevent locals from vandalizing his grave, his body was shipped to California and entombed there. Meanwhile, Croft, now wandering through the town, enters the home of a local housewife, luring her into the basement where he kills her with a felling axe before feeding on her blood. Before Leslie is discharged from the hospital, her doctor informs her she is pregnant, but that the fetus appears abnormal. Leslie believes the child to be Paul's, but her doctor insists she get an abortion, which she adamantly refuses. While Leslie returns home, Panzer visits the cemetery to investigate Croft's tomb, but is killed by the vampire in the process.
Some months later, Leslie—orphaned by her parents—gives birth to her son. Her housekeeper, Olga, urges Leslie to contact the town doctor, as the infant is pallid and will not take milk. Eventually, Leslie soon finds that the newborn gains strength by consuming blood. Leslie begins drawing her own blood into syringes and filling bottles to feed the baby, whom she names James.
Thirty years later, Leslie dies, and the adult James chooses to dedicate his life to hunting his father, whom he blames for his and his mother's suffering. Aware that his father preys on college youth, James begins to travel to various college towns, hoping to locate his father. In one of the towns along his journey, James enrolls in a folk mythology class, where he meets Anita Jacoby, a graduate student, and her roommate Anne Arthur. James is unaware that the professor, Adrian Lockwood, is in fact his father, Caleb Croft, who has assumed a new identity. During their first seminar, James gains Croft's attention by espousing his knowledge of the story of Charles Croydon, a 17th-century Englishman thought to be a vampire, as well as the case of Caleb Croft. After class, Anne has a brief conversation with Croft, during which he tells her she reminds him of his late wife, Sarah.
Later that night, Croft murders the university librarian. Meanwhile, James attends a party with Anita, who informs him she believes Croydon and Croft may have been the same person. James subsequently has Anne over to his apartment, and the two have sex. Meanwhile, Croft visits Anne and Anita's apartment, finding Anita there alone. Anita confronts Croft with her knowledge of his identity, and asks that he turn her into a vampire as well, so she can be his bride. When Croft denies Anita, she threatens to expose him, resulting in him slashing her throat. A short time later, Anne returns to her apartment and finds Anita's corpse in the shower. Croft appears behind the shower's frosted glass door, which obscures his features from Anne. James hears Anne's screams and rushes into her apartment to rescue her; Croft escapes unseen.
The following evening, James and Anne visit Croft's lavish estate along with four other graduate students. There, Croft conducts a séance in which he hypnotizes them. Croft calls out to his dead wife, Sarah, and instructs her to possess Anne. Instead, Anita, speaking from beyond the grave, possesses Anne's body, and exposes Croft as a vampire to the students. Croft sternly instructs Anne to cast Anita out of her body; she subsequently collapses on the floor. While James carries Anne upstairs, Croft kills the remaining students. James returns, and a violent struggle ensues between him and Croft. Realizing that Croft is his father, James drives a stake through his heart. Croft dies, but moments later, James begins to convulse in pain. Anne regains consciousness and stumbles upon the scene. James urges her to get away from him. Anne looks on in horror as James stares at her vacantly, now bearing fangs himself.
