Summaries

Synopsis

Three interns in white lab coats run frantically along the sidewalksof Los Angeles. They take cover next to some pallets behind a building.Vic Hunter [Brian Knudson] shows Eddie [Oliver Leymarie] and Tom[Chris Wolf] that he has taken a syringeful of prototype 19hfrom Project Alpha. "Not the "real thing," he admits, but it will at leastprotect them from ultraviolet rays and make their reflections visible.Suddenly, the three are set upon by an eye-patched renfield named Louis [Ray Essler]and his vampire strongman Hopper [Kelvin Tsao]. Tom and Eddie run and, after a shortbattle with Hopper, Vic plunges a stake through his chest and runs away,too. Louis pulls out the stake.

Project Alpha is the brainchild of Dr Frederick Klaus [Myron Natwick], the lastsurvivor of an old world vampire family from Austria. Klaus, in hisposition as professor of pathology at the University, claims to be doingresearch into longevity but actually is developing a Super Serum thatturns humans into vampires and an antidote that protects vampires from UVrays. He plans to ship the stuff around the world and create a vampirefollowing. Angry that his interns have betrayed him, Frederick snapsEddie's neck when he is brought back, but Tom and Victor remain at large.

Wounded from his encounter with Hopper, Vic lies slumped in thestreet. He is picked up by Nurse Sandra Jensen [Mary Louise Demmil], who becomes concerned whenshe finds that Vic's body temp is 10 degrees below normal and his pulse is58. When Vic says that he needs a blood transfusion, Sandra takes him tothe emergency room at University Hospital so that ER physician Dr PaulHold [John-Scott Taylor] can help, but Vic skips out when Sandra leaves him in her car. WhenVic realizes that he left the syringe with the antidote in the car, he isforced to take refuge in a dark warehouse where he is able to feast on theblood of a rat and hide out from the daylight.

The next day, Frederick happens upon Sandra as she walks past him andhis assistant Heidi [Paula Randol-Smith]. Able to smell Victor's scent on Sandra, Frederickoffers her a position on Project Alpha and arranges an interview fortomorrow at 4 pm. "She will lead us to Victor," Frederick tells Heidismugly and arranges for Louis and Hopper to pay Sandra a visit. As nightapproaches, Vic comes out of hiding and makes his way to Sandra'sapartment, having seen her address on one of her nursing books. He awakensher and asks if she found a syringe in her car. Sandra goes to get thesyringe. While waiting, Vic notices Frederick's card on the counter. Vicwarns Sandra not to keep that appointment, kisses her, and opens the frontdoor to leave.

Suddenly, Louis and another of his henchmen burst into the room.Louis chloroforms Sandra while his henchman beats up on Vic, but Vic stabshim with a scissors, grabs Sandra, and carries her out to her car. Just asVic is about to drive away, Louis injects Super Serum into Sandra's arm.While trying to outrun Louis and Hopper's car, Vic explains the SuperSerum and its antidote to Sandra. Taking shelter outside of a church,someplace that Hopper cannot go, Vic wishes aloud that he knew asuperchemist who could help him develop his own antidote. Sandra suggestsher chemist friend, Dr Lee Fong [Christopher Cho], who agrees to talk to them. While Sandra,who is in the early stages of transforming into the vampire, rests onLee's bed, Vic explains the Super Serum and antidote to Lee and asks if hecan run a chemical analysis on it. Lee agrees and heads down to the lab.

Meanwhile, Tom has surfaced at a party at the house of a friend. He follows a girl into the bathroom and drinks her blood, thenclimbs out the bathroom window and thinks he is home free. Unfortunately,he is apprehended by Louis and Hopper, who take him to Frederick.Frederick forces Tom to get a message to Vic in order to set up a trap.Checking his voicemail, Vic receives a message to meet Tom in Room 7 atthe Seaway Motel. When Lee returns, he loans Vic his car so that he andSandra can go to Tom. First, however, they stop at the hospital whereSandra steals a pint of blood so they can eat.

Back at Lee's apartment, ER doctor Paul shows up looking for Sandra,who failed to show up at a dinner date they had arranged the night before.The police are at her apartment, he explains, because a man got stabbedthere, and they want to talk to Sandra. When Lee refuses to tell Paulwhere she's at, Paul pulls a syringe of Super Serum out of his pocket andshoots it into Lee's shoulder.

When Vic and Sandra finally get to the Seaway Motel, Vic finds onlytwo bloodless girls and a note from Tom telling Vic to meet him at WestBeach. There, they find Tom and Hopper attacking a couple who werestrolling along the water. Hopper is set upon by a cross-carrying Jesusfreak and Vic takes on Tom. Suddenly, Paul appears and forces Sandra to gowith him. Vic manages to kill Tom, but not before the police see himrunning away from the bodies. The police nab Vic just as Paul drives awaywith both Sandra and Lee in the back seat.

Using his vampire strength, Vic breaks out of the handcuffs, steals abicycle, and heads back to Lee's apartment. He attempts to access Lee'scomputer only to find that Lee has preprogrammed it to direct Vic to lookin the cookie jar. There, Vic finds the formula for 19h, and the computergives him the correct dosage. One dose will be good for 2.13 hours. UsingLee's home chemistry setup, Vic brews up several syringefuls of somethinghe labels "poison." Then he injects himself with 19h and packs theremaining syringes, along with some garlic and crosses, in his backpack.Just as Vic is about to leave the apartment, Hopper bursts in. After a fewwell-placed punches, Vic injects a syringeful of poison into Hopper's neckand takes off. He steals a motorcycle and heads for Frederick's downtownurban castle. Gaining entrance through the back door, Vic sneaks around inthe corridors. He finds and releases Lee, then they search for and findSandra. When Paul comes in the room to check on Sandra, Lee injects himwith poison. He then provides Sandra and Lee with syringes of 19h.

Although he was just preparing to inject himself with today's dose ofthe antidote, Frederick suddenly smells Vic and hurries off to find him,forgetting to take the antidote. Frederick corners Vic and lectures himabout how he could have become second-in-command, but Vic tears thecurtain off the window, causing the sunlight to burn Frederick's face.Frederick runs from the room. Vic, Sandra, and Lee follow, running intoHeidi in the hall. Vic stabs Heidi in the abdomen, and Sandra injects herwith poison. They catch up with Frederick just as he's about to injecthimself with the antidote. Before Frederick can do so, they drag him outthe back door. Frederick burns up in the sun. As Vic, Sandra, and Lee head home, Louis can be seen escaping with two boxes, one filled with syringes of Super Serum and the other with antidote. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]