At Tiverton College, an ancient sacrificial altar is delivered to Dr. Jonas Wilson William Berger. Inside lies a carcass wearing a striking red cloak, a relic that will pull the story into a chilling orbit. Wilson dons the cloak and commits a brutal murder against a security guard, and the narrative eventually reveals that he also killed his wife before taking his own life. The punch of fate and ritual begins here, setting a haunting tone that threads through everything that follows.
Psychology professor Gordon Buchanan [Anthony Perkins] delivers a lecture on animism in honor of Wilson, and the course of events centers on Amy Mädchen Amick, a student whose parents are gone and who lives with her aunt Martha Mary Frann, acting as the primary caretaker for her invalid grandmother Natalie Schafer. Amy’s connection to the cloak grows after she attends Wilson’s estate sale and purchases a trunk that once belonged to him for a school play. Inside the trunk, she uncovers the cloak and begins to experience visions tied to the earlier killings, a phenomenon that pulls her deeper into a dangerous pull between duty and desire.
When Amy takes the trunk to rehearsal, Eddie Corey Parker, who portrays Mercutio, tries on the cloak and escalates into a violent swordfight with a fellow actor, leading to his dismissal from the production. Amy slips away with the cloak and, later that night, awakens to an inexplicable compulsion to transform it into a dress. The cloak’s power manifests as a seductive force, binding Amy’s will to a darker purpose.
The Easter dance becomes a turning point. Amy declines the invitation due to her caregiving obligations but eventually attends, wearing the freshly fashioned dress. In a tense moment, she dances with Mason Jason Brooks, Gloria’s boyfriend, while Gloria is in the ladies’ room. They share a kiss before Amy withdraws. Mason, when he removes her dress, finds that Amy was under a spell and apologizes before leaving. The night’s events foreshadow tragedy, and the dress proves to be deadly.
Back home, Amy’s grandmother lunges at her with the gown and tumbles down the stairs, dying instantly. Gloria and Martha confront Amy with anger, and Amy begins to realize that the dress’s powers may be warning her about the danger it contains. The funeral brings new strains, and Gloria asks Amy to lend the dress for Mason’s supposed proposal, only to learn later that Amy had disposed of it. However, Gloria discovers the dress in Amy’s closet.
Gloria’s plans unravel when Mason is drafted by the San Francisco 49ers, and as he steps away to shower, Gloria dons the dress and murders him. Meanwhile, Amy and Eddie share a moment in his car, only to be crushed when Gloria drives Mason’s truck into them. A frantic chase ends with Gloria driving off a cliff and perishing in a fire—an ending that feels both spectacular and tragic.
Buchanan explains Dr. Wilson’s theory: ritual garments can be vessels for possession, drawing out the worst traits in the possessed. Captain Aikman [R. Lee Ermey] presses Amy for information about the deaths, but she remains tight-lipped as the investigation unfolds. Wanda Thatcher, the coroner’s assistant [Dee Wallace], becomes drawn into the mystery and commits several murders after finding the dress.
Amy searches Wilson’s library for clues, leafing through an animism book and discovering Wanda’s contact information tucked inside. Buchanan reveals that he knows Amy has the cloak and questions its whereabouts; Amy tells him it was incinerated in Gloria’s crash. She then reaches out to Wanda, who lies about the incineration. After infiltrating Wanda’s apartment, Amy senses she’s been followed and the coroner is contacted for Amy’s address.
Amy confides in Captain Aikman, insisting the dress is supernatural and capable of possessing Wanda. Buchanan phones to confirm the cloak’s survival, only for Martha’s murder to occur shortly thereafter. Wanda attacks Amy, who initially escapes but is eventually overpowered and knocked unconscious. When Amy awakens, she finds herself wearing the dress again. Eddie returns and claims responsibility for Wanda’s murder and asserts that he forced Amy into the dress, though at that moment the garment seems powerless over her.
Refusing Eddie’s advances, Amy escapes and persuades him to help destroy the cursed garment. Captain Aikman clarifies that Wanda’s death did not result from a direct confrontation with the police, and Amy proceeds to destroy the dress by feeding it into a woodchipper. At Wanda’s burial site, Amy casts the dress remnants into the open grave. She later tells Buchanan that she destroyed the garment and buried it with Wanda. Although he initially agrees with the sentiment, he later digs up the grave and uncovers the dress’s remains once more, signaling that the danger has not been fully erased, even as the film returns to a somber, contemplative close.
