Gargoyles

Dr. Mercer Boley and his daughter Diana visit Uncle Willie's Desert Museum and are shown a large horned skeleton. Boley dismisses it as a hoax assembled from unrelated bones, while Uncle Willie insists the bones were found together as a complete skeleton. Willie adds folklore about demons from American Indian legends to heighten the mystery.

An unseen force attacks the museum, causing a rafter to collapse and killing the proprietor. The Boleys escape with the horned skull as a fire spreads around them. They flee to a roadside motel with the eerie relic in hand.

The next morning they report the incident to the local police and return to the fire site. They encounter a group of bikers, led by James Reeger, riding around the ruins and are arrested on suspicion of starting the fire. The Boleys warn authorities that the skull may be connected to the danger.

That night two gargoyles invade the motel room to retrieve the skull. Boley chases one to the road where it is struck by a truck and killed, while the other escapes with the skull. The Boleys return to the room with the dead gargoyle’s body.

Diana goes to the police station and pleads for the bikers’ innocence, but the deputy says only a judge can release them after charges are filed. She mentions the dead gargoyle, but Reeger dismisses the tale as fantasy. She keeps silent about it, hoping her father’s scientific interest will help rather than hinder the case.

Two slightly larger gargoyles return to recover the dead body. The Boleys escape with the gargoyle corpse through the motel window and stash it in their car, but the creatures rip the passenger door off and kidnap Diana, overturning the car and leaving Dr. Boley unconscious.

Diana is brought to a gargoyle cave where the leader, a larger winged figure, explains their recent emergence from a long incubation and their past struggle with humans. He has several of Boley’s books and orders Diana to read aloud to him. She reads a passage about a mythical encounter, and the leader asserts that humans are not needed by his kind.

Dr. Boley persuades the police chief to release the bikers and joins the search for Diana, with Reeger volunteering to help. Mrs. Parks and her helper drive off to fetch additional assistance. The town mobilizes to bring Diana back from the gargoyle lair.

The search party finds the helper’s pickup abandoned and bloodied, and the helper himself is found hanging upside down from a telephone pole. The chilling discovery underscores the gargoyles’ growing reach and the peril facing the rescuers. The valley grows tense as daylight gives way to dusk.

The gargoyle leader’s queen informs him that humans, horses, and dogs are approaching the cave and that many more eggs will hatch the next day. The leader orders the humans to be stopped in the desert, signaling a full-scale assault. Tension mounts as the eggs become a looming danger.

Over a dozen gargoyles strike the human party, resulting in casualties on both sides. Reeger sacrifices himself by dousing the eggs with gasoline and setting it ablaze, killing several gargoyles and destroying the eggs, at the cost of his own life. The assault underscores the stakes and the desperation of the defenders.

With the balance shifting, Dr. Boley disables the queen’s ability to fly by bludgeoning her wing. The gargoyle leader then carries the queen away and flies off to establish a new nest in a distant location. The humans survive the ordeal and Diana is freed to return home.