Vampire
A neglected site in San Francisco is about to get new life as the
Bryant Park Development Project unfolds. In attendance at the dedication
ceremony are the designing architects, John [Jason Miller] and Leslie [Kathryn Harrold] Rawlins, who bow
their heads proudly but reverently as Father Hanley [Scott Paulin] blesses the
newly-unveiled cross which is to form the foundation of the new Saint
Sebastian's Church and the cornerstone of the schools and apartments yet
to be built. Also in attendance is retired detective Harry Kilcoyne [E.G. Marshall] who
notices, after the blessing is over, the bulldozers are revving up, and
the attendees are filing away, that the ground is smoking where the shadow
of the cross falls on it. How odd. Later that night, unseen by no one, a
naked body crawls out of the smoking hole.A month passes. At a party thrown by the Rawlins, Leslie is
introduced by her lawyer friend Nicole DeCamp [Jessica Walter] to a new beau, Anton Voytek [Richard Lynch],
tall, blonde, handsome, stately, and rich. Voytek is an expert in art and
is able to tell Leslie about the model in one of the paintings she
acquired in Paris. As Nicole and Anton are leaving, Anton tells John that
he has an interesting proposition to present to him and offers to treat
the Rawlins to a night at the ballet so that they can talk about it.
Unfortunately, Anton is unable to keep the date, but he asks Nicole to
present the project to John and Leslie. It appears that Anton's family
were wealthy Europeans who had millions of dollars of valuable artwork by
artists such as Donatello, Botticelli, and da Vinci, which they smuggled
into the U.S. during the war and buried in caverns under the Heidecker
estate, the very place where Byrant Park is being erected. Voytek wants
the Rawlins to halt the development project temporarily and dig up the
family treasure.The next day, as John tries to make heads or tails out of some
blueprints of the underground caverns, Leslie visits the art museum and
learns that all the artworks on Anton's list are bona fide...and they've
been reported stolen from museums and collections around the world. Work
on Bryant Park stops, the artwork is recovered along with a human skull
and a rosary, and Voytek is arrested. As the police lead him away, Voytek
turns to John and says, "I trusted you, Rawlins, and that trust cost me
everything I treasure. I assure you that you will be repaid...in kind."Voytek spends the night in jail, but Nicole bails him out just before
dawn. Without a word of thanks, he takes off running down the street and
makes it to his light-tight apartment just as he starts to smoke in the
morning sun. That night, he pays a visit to the Rawlins's house, catching
Leslie as she prepares to leave. She invites him in for just a moment, and
so starts the seduction. By the time John returns home, Voytek has killed
Leslie and mutilated her body. Unfortunately, the police cannot tie Voytek
to the scene, and Nicole swears that Anton was with her all evening.
In his anger and anguish, John breaks into Voytek's apartment just as
he is waking in his coffin. John realizes that Voytek is a vampire and
tears out of there. However, a neighbor calls the police, and John is
taken to jail. His friend and colleague Christopher Bell [Michael Tucker] bails him out. On
his way out, John is spotted by Harry Kilcoyne. Harry follows John and is
intrigued when John goes to the library and takes out a lot of books about
vampires, so intrigued, in fact, that when he learns John has been taken
to a mental hospital armed with crosses and stakes, Harry goes to see him.
Unfortunately, Voytek has gotten there first. Just as Voytek bends over
John, who is helplessly strapped to his bed, Harry enters the room. Voytek
leaps out the window.Turns out that Harry has had doings with Voytek in the past and also
suspects that Voytek is a vampire. Later, as John and Harry share a drink
in Harry's living room, Harry tells John the story. Back in 1939, Harry
and his cop buddy Maurice Bernier were assigned to investigate a series of
murders in the Bryant Park area. In each case, the victim's throat was
torn out, but there was never any blood found. At first, they thought they
were looking for a homicidal maniac. However, Bernier eventually came to
believe it was the work of a vampire. Bernier took an early retirement,
became a priest, and founded the first St Sebastian Church a stone's throw
away from the Heidecker estate. Harry went off to war. When he got back,
Bernier had vanished. It is Harry's assumption that Bernier, along with
his rosary, trapped Voytek in the caverns under the Heidecker estate.
Rather than face his own destruction, Voytek brought down the whole estate
on top of them both, killing Bernier and trapping Voytek there for the
past 40 years, releasing him now because of the new construction.Just as John and Harry come to realize that they're going to have to
band together to hunt Voytek, there comes a knock on their door. It's
little Tommy Parker [Adam Starr] from across the hall and his mother Andrea [Barrie Youngfellow]. Andrea is
late for work and is wondering whether Harry can babysit Tommy. After
Harry gets Tommy in bed, John tells Harry what he's learned about Voytek
from the books he's been reading. There are stories about a golden-haired
vampire from as far back as the 13th century in what is now Hungary. John
thinks they refer to Voytek, making him over 700 years old!Harry suggests that their first act should be to contact casket
companies in the morning, looking for a large purchase by one individual,
on the hunch that Voytek would have several places of sanctuary. The next
step will be to track down the locations of these caskets and, even if
they don't find Voytek in them, to make them uninhabitable for him. When
Andrea returns to take Tommy home, Harry presents her with the gift of a
crucifix that once belonged to his dead wife and asks her to send Tommy a
week early to visit his father in Arizona.The next day, Harry picks up a few vials of holy water and has a
friend fashion some stakes for him. Tommy takes off for Arizona, after
Andrea places Harry's crucifix on Tommy's neck. John discovers that five
caskets for theatrical use were ordered by Maurice Bernier and delivered
to 635A Howard Street. At the Howard Street address, which turns out to be
a theater, Harry and John find a casket. When they open it, they are
horrified to find it contains Leslie's body. At first, John cannot drive
the stake. After a little prompting from Harry, he does the deed.Meanwhile, Harry has asked a friend of his to keep his eye on Andrea
at the disco where she works. It's closing time, and Harry is a bit late
picking her up, so she accepts a ride in the limo of a friend of one of
her coworkers. After the driver drops off the coworker, Voytek gets in.
When Harry finally gets to the disco, he finds that his friend has been
murdered and Andrea is gone. He hurries back to his apartment to see if
Andrea has gotten home safely. Instead, he gets a phone call from Voytek
who informs Harry that he has captured Andrea.Now it becomes even more imperative to step up their search for
Voytek. First stop is Nichole's house. Nicole looks pretty bedraggled, but
she reluctantly gives John a list of properties that Voytek has recently
purchased through her. John warns Nicole to get away from Voytek, and then
he and Harry set out to visit each one of the properties, looking for
Voytek's coffins and making them uninhabitable. The first stop is Voytek's
Nob Hill apartment, but he has totally vacated the premises. Next top is
an old mill, followed by the old Heidecker brewery, where they find
nothing but empty coffins. It's getting late in the day when they finally
reach the last property way up the coast in Mendocito...five acres of an
old cemetery where they must search for the Heidecker family vault.The sun has gone down. Voytek rises from his coffin and wakes up
Andrea just as Harry and John enter the vault. Andrea screams at them to
go away, but they are determined to end it here and now, even though
Voytek promises to go away and never return. As Voytek threatens them with
his plans to destroy everyone they love, including Tommy, Harry slowly
unscrews the lid on one of his vials of holy water. As Voytek drones on,
Harry tosses the water at him. Then, they attack Voytek with crosses, but
Voytek overpowers them and gets away. Andrea returns to her senses."We're safe for tonight," Harry says."It's not over," John says.Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.
paranormal, gothic, murder