Blood Feast

A woman returns home to her Miami Beach apartment and learns of a murder in Rogers Park. She is murdered while taking a bath, and the killer hacks off her leg above the knee with a machete, bags it for disposal. A copy of Ancient Weird Religious Rites is found near the body.

The following day, Detective Pete Thornton consults with the chief of the homicide bureau about the killings. They confirm a pattern of mutilation involving removal of limbs and organs.

Dorothy Fremont hires Fuad Ramses to cater a dinner for her daughter Suzette. Ramses promises an ancient Egyptian feast and hints at exotic rituals, while tending to an Ishtar shrine he keeps in a back room.

Ramses goes to a back room where he has enshrined a statue of Ishtar. He is preparing a 'blood feast'—a stew made from his victims' blood and body parts—in an attempt to resurrect Ishtar.

That evening, Thornton tells the chief that he interviewed the latest victim's acquaintances and that she belonged to a book club. The detail links the killings to a broader social group and deepens the investigation.

On a nearby beach that evening, Ramses arrives and knocks Tony unconscious. He then rips Marcy's brain from her skull, leaving Tony stunned and the scene to be investigated by the detectives.

Investigators question Marcy's mother, who reveals that Marcy belonged to a book club. This confirms the link to the earlier victim and reinforces the killer's pattern.

Suzette attends an Egyptian studies lecture with Detective Thornton at the local university. Dr. Flanders describes Ramses I and II and the Ishtar cult, including a ritual where women were sacrificed to Ishtar.

After the lecture, victim Janet Blake is found near death and taken to a hospital. She dies after recounting that her attacker seemed to say something like 'Etar.'

Ramses receives a letter from Trudy Sanders requesting a copy of Ancient Weird Religious Rites and kidnaps Trudy that evening. He imprisons her in his back room, beginning another step in his ritual.

The next day, Trudy awakens in Ramses's back room. Ramses lashes her with a scourge, collecting her blood in a silver chalice as part of his grisly ritual.

Suzette informs Thornton that Ramses will cater her dinner. Thornton and Dr. Flanders deduce Ramses is the author of Ancient Weird Religious Rites and the killer, and they race to Ramses' store to confront him. They discover the Ishtar shrine, Trudy's body, and other remains.

The police head to the Fremont house to arrest Ramses and halt the guests from partaking in the feast. Ramses then arrives at the dinner party and asks Suzette to help make the feast more authentic, raising his machete to decapitate her until Mrs. Fremont interrupts and he flees.

The detectives pursue Ramses through a dump; he climbs into the back of a garbage truck and is crushed when the driver activates the compactor. The investigation team heads back to headquarters with the case closed for the moment.

Thornton explains how he deduced the killer's identity and notes that Ramses likely kept a list of people who had requested his book as potential victims. The Ishtar statue then sheds tears of blood, marking the film's final omen.