Two Broadway press agents, Wally Brown as Jerry Miles and Alan Carney as Mike Strager, hatch a publicity stunt for Ace Miller's new cabaret, the Zombie Hut: they plan to hire a genuine zombie to headline the opening night, betting that a real monster will outshine any staged fright. The pair figures that dressing a former boxer as a zombie could pass for the real thing, a plan they hope will fool a crowd hungry for sensational spectacle. Yet Ace Miller, the nightclub’s hard-edged owner, has his own rules, and his enemy in town, a sharp-tongued radio figure, Douglas Walker, vows to expose any sham or shambling impostor if a real zombie isn’t present at the show.
To prove their nerve—and spare their lives—the two go hunting for an actual undead expert. Their trail leads to a Caribbean island called San Sebastian, where a mysterious Professor Renault is said to be crafting zombies. The chase heads into dangerous waters as Ace Miller’s henchmen trail the pair aboard a tramp steamer bound for the island, determined to force them to deliver a genuine zombie or pay the price. On arrival, the duo crosses paths with a sultry cabaret singer, Jean La Dance, and she becomes their unlikely ally in a place where danger lurks behind every doorway. Jean, played by Anne Jeffreys, agrees to help locate Renault in exchange for passage off the island, a bargain that sets the stage for revelations and peril.
They eventually locate Professor Renault, Bela Lugosi in the role, whose secret laboratory sits behind a web of hidden doors and ominous apparatus. Renault’s zombie, Kalaga, Darby Jones, keeps watch over the lab and carries out the professor’s chilling experiments. As Miles and Strager investigate Renault’s eerie setup, Kalaga seizes Jean and drags her away to Renault’s inner chamber, where the scientist tests a serum meant to bend the will of the living. Jean wakes, finds herself gagged and strapped to a table as Renault prepares to begin another grim trial, while her captors monitor the lab with a wary eye. The danger escalates when the guard dogs scent intruders and Jean is spirited to a secret dungeon where she fights to break free.
Back home, the effect of Renault’s secret formula begins to manifest in Strager, who becomes momentarily “zombified” under the controlling spell. The combination of Miles’s courage, Jean’s cunning, and the professor’s unsettling science pushes the trio toward a perilous reunion with Ace Miller’s gang. Strager’s trance ends just in time, and the group returns to the club with a genuine-feeling threat in tow, igniting a confrontation with Miller that proves far more terrifying than any fake fright they ever staged. As the night unfolds, Miles, Jean, and Strager must face Miller’s wrath and the escalating tension around the Zombie Hut, testing their wits, nerve, and loyalty in a pulse-quickening finale that lingers long after the final curtain.
