| Director | David Schmoeller |
|---|---|
| Budget | $400,000 |
In 1939, at the Bodega Bay Inn in California, an old puppeteer named André Toulon is putting the finishing touches on his newest puppet, Jester, before he brings it to life. Two Nazi spies approach Toulon's room while Kahn, another living puppet, warns him. Toulon calmly places all the animate puppets in a chest and hides it in a wall compartment. As the Nazis break down the door, Toulon dies by suicide.
Fifty years later, four psychic acquaintances are contacted telepathically by Neil Gallagher, who resides at the Bodega Bay Inn. Professor Alex Whitaker has a nightmare involving Neil and leeches, Dana Hadley has a premonition of her own death, and psychic researchers Frank Forrester and Carissa Stamford are contacted in a manner not revealed. Dana, who has located Toulon's secret compartment, arranges a meeting at the Inn. Upon arrival, they meet Neil’s wife, Megan, for the first time and learn that Neil has killed himself and left instructions for Megan. While paying last respects, Dana stabs a long pin into Neil’s corpse to verify that he is dead.
The psychics experience different confusing visions of Neil. Another animated figure, Pinhead, crawls out of Neil's casket.
At dinner, Dana irritates Megan, forcing her to leave the table. Alex follows Megan and describes their history with her husband: Carissa is a psychometrist, Dana is a clairvoyant fortune teller, and Alex experiences precognition via dreams. Neil was researching alchemy and with Frank's help discovered that the Ancient Egyptians had created a method of animating figurines, a power previously discovered by Toulon. Because Neil had not made contact in a while, the four associates thought that he had made a breakthrough and abandoned them. They now want whatever Neil discovered.
That night, Pinhead kills the Gallaghers’ housekeeper, Teresa, with a fireplace poker while she tends to the fireplace; as foreseen by Dana. Megan finds Gallagher's body upright in a chair and faints. Alex attends to her while the others return the body to the casket.
Another animated figure, Blade, is foiled by protective magic spells on Alex and Dana's rooms. It moves on to Carissa and Frank's room, where the couple is having very loud sex and disrupting Alex and Dana's sleep. Two more puppets, Tunneler and Leech Woman, enter. Tunneler kills Carissa when she investigates a noise under the bed. Frank, left bound and blindfolded by Carissa, becomes the victim of Leech Woman’s leeches.
Dana finds Gallagher's body in her room. She is attacked by Pinhead, who breaks her leg. Pinhead continues to assault her until she casts him aside and crawls to the elevator, where Blade fatally slashes her throat.
Alex suffers several nightmares. Megan wakes him and shows him Toulon's diary. She says that Neil found Toulon's secrets of animation. Alex has a vision of Neil. They rush downstairs to escape but find the bodies of Dana, Frank and Carissa in chairs around the dining table with Neil, revivified. Neil explains that his suicide was a necessary step in his plan, using Toulon's secrets to reanimate himself and become immortal. He reveals that he killed Megan's parents to gain full access to the inn. He expresses disgust for the animated puppets, and announces his intent to continue his experiments with human bodies. The puppets turn on Neil. Tunneler destroys Neil's legs. Blade pins him down while Leech Woman regurgitates a leech into his mouth. Pinhead breaks Neil’s neck.
The next day, Megan sees Alex off. Dana's taxidermized dog Leroy begins to walk on its own, revealing Megan has reanimated it.