Blood Bath

Daisy departs the club after an argument with Max and wanders into the night streets. She pauses to admire gruesome paintings in a gallery window by Antonio Sordi, who happens to be looking at his own 'lost children.' They strike up a friendly conversation and head together to Sordi's studio beneath an old bell tower.

Back at the studio, Sordi convinces the anxious Daisy to pose for him in a room beneath the bell tower. She begins to settle into the pose as the artist studies her, their exchange growing tense but still cordial. The moment hints at dark undertones as the studio's atmosphere becomes increasingly unsettling.

As Daisy poses, a possessing force overtakes Sordi and he transforms into a vampiric monster. He slashes Daisy to death with a cleaver, then lowers her mutilated body into a vat of boiling substance. The room's chill mood mirrors the horror of the act.

In vampiric form, Sordi has already killed a lone woman in the town square. He drags her to a nearby car and feigns kissing her, fooling onlookers into believing they are merely lovers sharing a moment. The deception allows him to vanish into the crowd for his next victim.

Another victim is approached at a party, chased into a swimming pool, and drowned there after the other guests have moved inside. The scene showcases the vampiric Sordi's growing boldness and his disregard for witnesses. The town's festive surface masks a rising wave of disappearances.

The murdered women are carried back to Sordi's studio and painted by the artist, their bodies then covered in wax. This act transforms the victims into eerie, preserved figures that echo Sordi's obsession with capturing souls on canvas. The studio becomes a macabre gallery of his 'art.'

Max wants to reconcile with Daisy but cannot find her. He later recognizes that the Daisy depicted in Sordi's painting on display at a beatnik cafe resembles the missing girl. This realization ties the artist to the disappearances and Daisy's fate.

Max visits Daisy's sister Donna, who confirms Daisy hasn't been seen for days and is worried about the rash of disappearances. Donna reads Max the legend of Erno, a 15th-century painter condemned for capturing souls and becoming a vampire. Her warning plants seeds of doubt about Sordi.

Donna confronts Antonio Sordi at his studio and asks whether he has seen Daisy. He responds with anger, brushing her off and deepening the suspicion that he is involved in the murders. The confrontation foreshadows the looming confrontation.

That night, Sordi follows Donna through the streets and murders her as she attempts to escape on a carousel. The act confirms that he targets those connected to Daisy and sustains his murderous spree. The town reels from another shocking loss.

Meanwhile, the 'human' Sordi is in love with Dorian, an avant-garde ballerina who resembles both Donna and a former love. He tries to protect her from his vampiric tendencies, warning her that his studio is a bleak place and even breaking a date to gain control after Daisy's murder. The internal conflict heightens the tragedy.

At the beach, Dorian reveals her attraction to him and asks him to make love. Sordi panics and runs away, fleeing toward town. As Dorian heads inland, the vampiric Sordi closes in, and Max with two beatnik friends pursue the vampire to protect her.

Dorian goes to the bell tower to understand why Sordi fled from her and to seek clarity about his behavior. The isolation of the tower underscores the emotional distance between them and the growing mystery surrounding Sordi. Her visit foreshadows the coming confrontation.

Sordi returns and finds Dorian in his studio. He mistakes her for Meliza and attacks with a knife, enmeshing her in netting. Before he can hurt her, the wax figures on the studio floor come alive, kill him, and Max and his friends break in to free Dorian.