A group of vampires keep the body of a witch in a castle cellar. They require virgin blood to resurrect her. A party of people arrive and things kick off.
In the late-1300s, the beautiful and innocent Isabella is tortured and burned at the stake for supposed witchcraft, in front of her lover who swears revenge. Several hundred years later, the well-off Jack Nelson and his niece, Laureen, celebrate the latter's engagement at their newly-acquired and fully renovated castle, unbeknownst to them that in the château's dank cellar, evil occultists participate in ancient black magic rites, sacrificing youthful virgins. What are their intentions? Is Laureen next in line?—Nick Riganas
In the cellar of the local cursed castle, Satanists are cutting outthe hearts and drinking the blood of virgins in order to keep alive theirGreat Mistress Isabella Isabella Drupel [Rita Calderoni], a witch/vampire who was staked through the chestand burned to death in the 14th century. They currently await "the 25thmoon", when Isabella (chained to a wall and with a big hole in her chest)will be able to fully reincarnate in another body. Neither the storiesabout the castle being the site of the Inquisition, nor the heartlessvillage virgins being found all over, nor the fact that some odd occultist [Raoul Lovecchio]and his servant are also living in the castle, phases Jack Nelson [Mickey Hargitay], thecastle's new owner. In fact, one of the first things Jack does is to throwan engagement party for niece Laureen [Rita Calderoni] who is marrying a local boy, RichardBrenton [William Darni].
Jack doesn't care about the castle's notoriety because he is actuallyCount Dracula, and he's been waiting 500 years for the day when hisbeloved Isabella will return to him. He doesn't care about the occultisteither, because it was he who helped remove Isabella's body from the stakeall those years ago. In fact, many of the male guests are also vampireswho have been awaiting Isabella's return, and most of the female guestsare reincarnations of the same girls who were shouting "Burn the witch!"all those years ago when Isabella was suffering.
[Herein insert a good 45 minutes of scenes with no continuity andeven less sense, mostly of Isabella being staked and burned, the virginsbeing seduced by the vampires, Christa [Christa Barrymore] being buried alive and thenreturning as a vampire, lots of bare breasts and women being held by thetorturers, and Laureen escaping from a tightening cage of knives andfalling into amnesia about what happened to her.] This kind of stuff goeson until Richard stumbles upon one of the occultist's books that explainshow Vampires need blood uncontaminated by semen (i.e., from virgins) andJack and the occultist explain how everyone there has paid a role, pastand present, in Isabella's death.
It is the night of the 25th moon. All the vampires suddenly go on afeeding frenzy. Two of their victims escape but, while they are runningthrough the valley clothed only in a black cape, a lightning bolt strikesa wooden cross and sets it on fire. The villagers see the cross burningand, like in the old days, start screaming there be witches here. Thevillagers attempt to kill the girls, but the occultist suggests that theybe allowed to pass the altar at the crossroads where it is said no demoncan pass without being incinerated. The villagers agree, and the two girlsare promptly engulfed by fire and disappear, reappearing in the castlecellar where they rejoin the other girls being held as sacrifices toIsabella. Tired of all the mysteries and disappearing girls, Richardconfronts the occultist who delivers the moral of the story: There is athin line between the known and the unknown, the real and the unreal, andmaybe the things we see are just the things we want to see. Profound?
Meanwhile, Laureen has disappeared again. She has become the ChosenOne, the one who will provide the eyes and ears of the reincarnatedIsabella. Only Laureen must be a willing body donor. In a drugged state,it looks like Laureen is going to consent, but just as Isabella begins toawaken, Laureen cries out "Monster!" and the spell is broken. Laureen thenkills Jack, and the next thing we know, Laureen is waking up in her ownlittle bed oblivious to it all. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl]
