- The pursuit of a serial killer leads to a deeper evil. When the government captures a vampire he is imprisoned and subjected to brutal medical experiment. With the project's original MD dead a rookie from the clinic downstairs is brought in as a replacement. As the procedures becomes more gruesome, he is torn between sympathy for a patient's suffering and concern for the evil that threatens to consume everyone involved.—Anonymous
- There is a serial killer loose in Los Angeles. He brutalizes his young, female victims then drains their blood. He leaves no forensic evidence. The body count is rising. A task force of FBI agents and LAPD officers is formed and a trap is set. A vice officer volunteers as bait. It seems that the killer nicknamed "Vlad" has little time left. But the FBI has not told all about Vlad to the LAPD or its bait. Vlad is no ordinary serial killer. He is a force of incredible evil. As Officer Gwen Taylor attempts to lure a killer, powerful forces are also marshaling against him. They are the best trained the military has to offer with the best combination of paranormal knowledge and technology. It nearly isn't enough. A creature of myth and legend, a real vampire, is captured but not before many of his pursuers are killed. This includes Dr. Samuel Hirsch, the visionary who set the whole plan into motion. The Delphi Project continues under a new leader, Dr. Richard Bassett, who vows that his good friend's death will not be in vain. The vampire will provide the answers they seek. Bassett has convinced himself that the secret to life itself and humanity's future is at stake. But someone must repair the creature before he can be studied. He recruits a reluctant healer in Dr. Joe McKay. Protocols are carefully followed, data is gathered and the experiments proceed. But the Doctor and the Scientists have forgotten that a creature who has survived for a millennium can find weakness in any safeguards. After all, the protocols were created by the same humans which he has studied and hunted for centuries. Simon is patient and cunning. But can he survive the rigors of modern science? How far can he get them to fall in the name of science? Will they be his pawns or is he the pawn...—Ralph Angel Lliteras, Jr.
- Dr Samuel Hirsch [James Kiberd] has spent years preparing for the chance that he will one day capture a real vampire. The top floor of the V.A. Hospital in Los Angeles is already laying in wait, complete with a sunproof containment box, retractable sun roof, and observation deck. Simon Molinar [Jason Carter] is a vampire, born to a poor family in the Pyrenees during the reign of Hadrian. Detective Gwen Taylor [Denise Alessandria Hurd] is posing as a hooker in hopes of capturing the creep who has been murdering L.A. prostitutes, leaving their corpses battered and bloodless such that the media has dubbed him "Vlad". These three lives are about to cross.
It's a routine night for Gwen. Already her team has picked up one john for soliciting, a blubbering nebbish with only $40.00 in his pocket. Definitely not Vlad. Number 2 is tall and handsome and, when he kisses Gwen, she is mysteriously drawn to him. When the team attempts to cuff him, however, he does the impossible--rips the door off the hinges and escapes. He is followed, shot eight times, and clubbed mercilessly. Yet, when Dr Hirsch bends over him, the suspect instinctively reaches up and strangles him. In his wounded state, the suspect is captured, enclosed in a steel containment box, and taken directly to the VA experimental lab. If not Vlad, he surely is a vampire.
With Dr Hirsch's death, new Delphi project director, William Bassett [Jack Donner], requests another physician to take Dr Hirsch's place. Dr Joseph "Joe" McKay [Garett Maggart] takes the call and so becomes private physician to Simon Molinar, vampire. Working only when the sun is directly overhead and transfusing Simon with donated blood, Joe removes the bullets from Simon's back (including one musketball from years previous) and performs a series of routine examinations. [Simon has AB- blood, BP 60/30, temperature 96° F, he has a heartbeat (which does not register on EKG), he casts a reflection, his fangs emerge when a pocket behind his teeth fills with fluid ("like an erection"), his pupils are reactive, he pees blood, garlic and crosses are useless, his wounds heal overnight (if he's transfused with blood), he breathes but his body absorbs no oxygen, and, although his blood is inert, it appears to harbor an unidentified virus.] After a few days of routine testing, Dr Bassett orders sunlight exposure experiments, and Joe begins to question the humanity of the testing regimen. Bassett explains that it is necessary to learn how much exposure (if any) will harm the vampire so that, hopefully, they can let him out of his containment box for longer periods. [It turns out that even indirect sunlight burns Simon's skin.]
When the government decides that humanity would be even further served by learning about Simon's regenerative properties, they decide to break his arm. Simon, who has been totally cooperative so far, helps them along by breaking his own arm. In the fracas that follows, one of the military guards, specially selected because of his strong religious upbringing, seizes the moment to stab Simon repeatedly in the chest, claiming that it is the responsibility of the righteous to destroy evil. Joe manages to clear the blood from Simon's chest and keep him alive. In yet another experiment in torture, Simon is not allowed a blood transfusion so that they can see how long it takes him to heal on his own. When Simon reminds Dr Bassett of the Uncertainty Principle (to fully understand a thing, it must be studied in context), Bassett dreams up a third experiment and hires a prostitute in order to study Simon after drinking blood directly from a human.
Meanwhile, Gwen is haunted by the memory of Simon's kiss and, driven by the need to bring justice to the prostitute killer, attempts to gain information about Simon by going through Joe. At first, Joe is not forthcoming until he is informed that Simon is to be destroyed when the experiments are completed. Joe then pairs up with Gwen and, together, they pay a visit to Simon's apartment, an apartment just like any other human's. Joe decides that he can no longer go on with the project.
Then, blood chemist Ben Yarmall discovers that Joe's blood contains a genetic marker compatible with the virus in Simon's blood. Under the guise that Simon is going into convulsions after a transfusion, Bassett tricks Joe into returning in order to treat his patient. Knowing that Joe is compatible with the virus, Simon attempts to bite him, promising "We'll have fun." Thereafter follows 10 minutes of pell-mell action as the gun is passed back and forth between Gwen, Joe, Simon, Ben, Bassett, and several guards, so that you don't know who is going to end up alive or dead. In short, Bassett shoots a guard, Gwen takes the gun from Bassett, more guards take the gun from Gwen, the guard gives the gun back to Bassett, the guards open the door to Simon's chamber in order to free Joe, Simon escapes, Ben shoots Bassett, Simon takes the gun from Ben, Joe grabs a machine gun and orders Simon to stop, Simon runs, and Gwen grabs Bassett's dropped gun and chases Simon to the roof. As Gwen points the gun at Simon, he jumps from the roof.
Epilogue: Simon enters a club and asks a woman sitting at the bar whether or not the seat next to her is taken. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl]
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content