Plot

A university chemistry professor experiments with an ancient Mayan gas on a medical student, turning the would-be surgeon into a murdering ghoul.

Dr. Alfred Morris, a university chemistry professor, rediscovers an ancient Mayan formula for a gas which turns men into pliant, obedient, zombie-like ghouls. After medical student Ted Allison becomes a guinea pig for Morris, the professor imagines that Allison's fiancee, beautiful concert singer Isabel Lewis, wants to break off the engagement because she prefers the professor as a more "mature" lover but in reality loves Eric Iverson, her accompanist. In order to bring Ted back from his trance-like states, Morris commands him to perform a cardiectomy on recently deceased or living bodies in order to use serum from their hearts as a temporary antidote. When the serial murders seem to coincide with Isabel's touring schedule, ace reporter "Scoop" McClure gets on the mad scientist's trail.—duke1029@aol.com

Medical student Ted Allison is engaged to singer Isabel Lewis. Isabel is having a difficult time telling Ted that she is no longer in love with him, having instead fallen in love with her accompanist and Ted's friend, Eric Iverson. While Isabel and Eric are scheduled to head off on a summer concert tour, Ted is hired by his friend and well-respected college professor, Dr. Alfred Morris, to assist in conducting the latest phase of his research. That research is in the activities of an ancient tribe which developed an odorless and colorless poisonous gas that turned those who breathe it into the living dead - what Ted does not know were controllable zombies - who were revived to normal human state by the transplantation of a heart from a recently deceased or alive person. Ted learns that Dr. Morris has already recreated the gas and tested it out on a lab monkey named Jocko. They are able to successfully revive Jocko by a heart transplant. Ted is however unaware that Dr. Morris hired him solely to be his first human subject as he wants Ted out of the way since he himself loves Isabel. Dr. Morris' test on Ted is a success, having turned him into a zombie, made Ted rob a grave of a recently deceased person to cut out his heart, and transplanted that heart into Ted to revive him. After the process, Ted was unaware of what happened to him, only having vague dreams - nightmares - of such incidents. But Dr. Morris soon learns from what happens to Jocko that the heart transplant only has a temporary effect, meaning that Dr. Morris will need more human hearts to keep Ted alive. As Isabel often uses her friend Dr. Morris as a confidante, he learns about the personal role of Eric in her life, which adds the task of getting Ted to kill Eric followed by killing himself so that Dr. Morris can have Isabel all for himself. Through it all, the police and the print media are following the story of the grave robbings and murders, notably reporter Ken McClure, who notices that these incidents seem to be happening in the cities where Isabel is performing.—Huggo