| Director | Eric Weston |
|---|---|
| Budget | $1 million |
16th-century Spanish Satanist Father Lorenzo Esteban and his followers are told by a priest that they are banished to America and denied God's grace unless they renounce Satan and their evil ways.
Currently, Stanley Coopersmith is a cadet at West Andover military academy. He is an outcast, bullied by his classmates for being an orphan and mistreated by instructors who consider him intelligent but inept. While cleaning the church cellar as punishment, he discovers a hidden room that once belonged to Esteban and contains books on black magic. Using his computer skills, Stanley translates one of the books from Latin into English. Among its contents is a diary describing rituals for performing the Black Mass along with a chilling promise from Esteban: "I will return."
Oversleeping the following day, Stanley finds his alarm clock unplugged and his clothing tied in knots by his classmates. This makes him late for class, and his teacher writes him a note to take to the headmaster, Colonel Kincaid. In Kincaid's office, he accidentally leaves the diary on the school secretary's desk, Miss Friedemeyer, who hides it. While Stanley is cleaning the pigsty, she tries to pry the jewels from the book's front cover, which causes the pigs to attack her.
Stanley returns to his dormitory room to find his belongings scattered. Missing his book, he assumes his classmates stole it and confronts them, but they deny any knowledge. Stanley goes to the school's computer lab to research Satanism, but his allotted time runs out before he can complete his research.
Stanley appears in the cellar with computer equipment stolen from the lab. He sets up the computer and checks the requirements for a black mass. He attempts to initiate one, but the computer informs him that he still lacks crucial ingredients: blood and a consecrated host. Reverend Jameson, the church's pastor, nearly discovers him and sends him to the mess. Arriving too late for dinner, he befriends the school's cook, who feeds him and shows him some puppies his dog just gave birth to. Stanley takes the runt of the litter, names him Fred, and hides him in the cellar.
Stanley steals the host from the church. He attempts the ritual, and figures in robes with pig faces appear. Stanley is knocked unconscious; these are his classmates in disguise. After they leave, Stanley's computer tells him that the ritual is incomplete. He accidentally wakes the drunken caretaker, Sarge, who accuses him of being a thief and attacks him. An unseen force twists Sarge's head completely around, breaking his neck. Stanley discovers a catacomb containing Esteban's crypt. He hides Sarge's body.
At home, Miss Friedemeyer again attempts to steal the jeweled pentagram from Esteban's book and is savaged to death by a pack of large black boars. The diary dematerializes. Stanley's classmates assault him, saying that if he tries to play in the soccer game tomorrow, they will find and kill Fred. Witnessing this, Kincaid kicks Stanley off the team instead of punishing the bullies.
Drunk, Stanley's classmates find Esteban's hidden room. The computer flashes a message saying that blood is needed: they kill Fred, but the computer says it must be human blood. Finding Fred's body, Stanley becomes enraged. The diary appears on Esteban's casket. A teacher catches Stanley stealing another host and follows him to the catacombs, where he finishes translating Esteban's diary. Stanley pledges his life to Satan, kills the teacher, and collects his blood.
Meanwhile, Stanley's classmates, the coach, Kincaid, and Jameson, attend a service. After Stanley successfully performs the ritual, Esteban's soul possesses him. An invisible force pries out a nail from the crucifix over the church's altar and impales Jameson's forehead. Stanley rises through the floor, wielding a sword. He decapitates Kincaid and his coach. His classmates, trying to flee, are devoured by the pack of boars. One bully, Bubba, tries to escape through the catacombs, but a reanimated Sarge rips out his heart, killing him. The church burns to the ground.
An epilogue states that Stanley survived the attack but went catatonic from shock and was committed to an asylum. The film's ending shows Stanley's true fate as his face appears on the computer screen in the cellar with the words "I will return".