Lively,
flirtatious RHONDA FLEMING attends an art opening
with her repressed roommate CRYSTAL TAYLOR in
tow. She is drawn to the dark paintings, and
she finally meets the mysterious artist, DR
AKE VAN HORN, who is also the owner of The Hollow,
the dance club where Rhonda works. With Drake
is his assistant/girlfriend, NATOSHA. Watching
from a distance is KEVIN MERDOCK, who we later
find out to be a police officer.
Rhonda fantasizes about Drake,
but he is more drawn to Crystal, and begins
to speak about things from her past, particularly
her father. Crystal becomes upset and runs away.
Back at their apartment, as Rhonda prepares
for work, Crystal mentions that she and Kevin
- the same man who was eyeing Drake Van Horn
- have broken up. After Rhonda leaves for The
Hollow, Crystal heads over to Drake’s
apartment, where she witnesses he and Natosha
making love. While she is peeping through the
window, Merdock approaches and questions her
about Drake, whom he believes is involved in
the death of a model named CARRIE WESTIN. Drake
suddenly appears and escorts Crystal inside;
after a little sweet-talking, he convinces her
to model for him. They then make love, after
which Crystal heads home and Drake heads to
The Hollow.
Back at the apartment, Merdock
stops by and again grills Crystal regarding
her relationship with Drake Van Horn. She is
at once surly and sexually aggressive –
this is definitely not the Crystal that Merdock
thought he knew. After they make love, Crystal
gets dressed and leaves for The Hollow, despite
Merdock’s adamant protests. Once there,
she attentively watches Rhonda’s performance.
Merdock follows, and questions Rhonda about
Drake and Crystal; he learns that the two met
only earlier that evening. Rhonda, just as perplexed
as Merdock as to why Crystal would be acting
differently and suddenly be so enamored with
Drake, is unable to shed any light on the situation.
The next day, as Merdock
hunkers down and attempts to crack the case,
his boss, CAPTAIN THOMAS, dismisses the preliminary
report on the mysterious Drake Van Horn as pure
malarkey. Rhonda, worried since her roommate
did not return home the night before, heads
over to Drake’s apartment, where she encounters
a very different Crystal. Finally, feeling pressure
from the mayor’s office, Captain Thomas
angrily orders Merdock off the case.
Undeterred, however, Merdock
heads over to Rhonda’s apartment to search
for more clues as to Drake’s evil doings.
Surfing the Internet, Merdock determines that
the only way to obtain the information he needs
is to break into Drake’s residence and
hack into his computer. Since Rhonda is a computer
whiz, she comes with him. Once there, Merdock
and Rhonda uncover incriminating and hard-to-believe
evidence that Drake Van Horn may be responsible
for dozens of otherworldly deaths. Events reach
a stunning climax when Drake surprises the pair
and, with Crystal’s life hanging in the
balance, reveals his true identity.