A flesh-eating ghoul named Dr Freudstein (Giovanni de Nari) inhabits the basement of a family's New England home and must continue his gruesomely bizarre surgical practices on them to remain a living dead zombie in Italian gore maestro Lucio Fulci's last great grisly horror movie before his work slid into the incoherent schlock gutter. Visually arresting, excessively nasty - lots of sharp, pointy instruments stab assorted body parts - and building to a well-sustained climax of exciting Gothic melodrama, this eccentric cross between Frankenstein and The Amityville Horror is a highly effective Grand Guignol shocker and a favorite among Fulci aficionados.

After a doctor kills his mistress and himself while researching the mysterious previous owner of his Boston home, his colleague, Dr. Norman Boyle, takes over his studies and moves his family into the Boston mansion. Soon after, Boyle's young son Bob becomes plagued by visions of a young girl, who warns him of the danger within the house.