Blood of the Vampire

In 1874, a man’s body wrapped in a shroud is buried in a Transylvania grave. An executioner drives a stake through the heart, as the scene blurs into rumor and terror. Immediately after, Carl, though severely disabled, emerges from hiding, kills the gravedigger, and arranges for a drunken doctor to perform a heart transplant on the body, murdering the physician when the procedure is done.

Six years pass and Dr. John Pierre is convicted of malpractice following a failed emergency transfusion. He is sentenced to life in a penal colony, but ends up at a Prison for the Criminal Insane run by Dr. Callistratus. This marks the start of a perilous chapter in a facility built on fear and experimentation.

Within the prison, John learns that his role is to assist with blood-typing research intended to enable safe transfusions, especially for those with a rare condition. He becomes increasingly uneasy as he discovers the blood is drawn from unwilling inmates. The work promises progress but at a chilling moral cost.

At his trial, John argues that the patient’s death was inevitable and asks the judge to contact Prof. Meinster in Geneva for support. The judge claims Meinster would have been contacted, but Meinster replies that he does not know John. Madeleine then urges Meinster to travel to Transylvania to reopen the case.

Auron, a Prison Commission member, intercepts the letter to Meinster and forges a reply to manipulate events. With Meinster on the way to Transylvania, the path to reopen the case becomes tangled in deception and power games. The stage is set for a clash of truth and authority.

Auron tells Callistratus that the Prison Commission has ordered John’s release, while Callistratus tells John that the appeal was denied and that John and Kurt died in an escape attempt. The deception deepens as the truth becomes harder to discern for everyone involved. The lie helps keep John under control for the moment.

John and Kurt attempt to escape, but the plan collapses under the prison’s brutal defenses. The vicious Dobermans are unleashed, and Kurt is presumably slain in the pursuit. The failure reinforces John’s resolve to resist and survive.

Madeleine refuses to believe John is dead and takes a job as Callistratus’s housekeeper to investigate. She begins to piece together the truth behind the prison’s operations and her fiancé’s fate. Her presence adds pressure on Callistratus and his illicit experiments.

John discovers that Kurt’s grave is empty, suggesting foul play or some hidden truth about his death. This discovery confirms that the official story is a fiction crafted to conceal the real horrors of the prison. Madeleine’s suspicions grow in tandem with John’s investigations.

Auron visits Callistratus again and is recognized by Madeleine. He tries to assault her, but Carl intervenes, halting the attack. Callistratus ejects Auron, who then threatens to expose the doctor’s activities, prompting Callistratus to act against him.

Callistratus brings Madeleine to his laboratory, displaying his ‘experiments,’ including a chained, apparently dead Auron. He chains Madeleine to the wall and John arrives, only to find himself also restrained. The laboratory becomes a theater of control and impending danger.

Callistratus explains that he was executed for vampirism, survived via suspended animation, and now relies on constant transfusions. He reveals his intention to transfuse Madeleine’s blood into Kurt, presenting Kurt as a vessel for his dangerous, rare condition. The moral decay behind the experiments becomes brutally clear.

John yells for Kurt to resist, and the two men struggle with Callistratus, allowing John to knock the doctor unconscious and free himself. Kurt dies from the exertion, but Madeleine is unbound and they escape together, taking Callistratus hostage. The escape marks a brutal break from the prison’s nightmare.

Carl, who survived Callistratus’s gunshot, releases the hounds, and they tear Callistratus apart. The escapees flee as the prison descends into chaos and the monstrous regime is brought to a violent end. The story closes on the consequences of twisted experiments.