Anna Quarrels works in the Rare Books Room of a library. A man approaches her, introducing himself as Mr. Jamison from the
University of Chicago. He supposedly wishes to study
Frankenstein's original manuscript. After reading it, Jamison steals the manuscript. Anna hires private detective David Raleigh to track Jamison down. David soon discovers that the man claiming to be Jamison is really Dr. Winston Berber, a scholar with doctorates in Physics, Mathematics, Folklore, and Philosophy. Berber collects rare original manuscripts; along with
Frankenstein, he has obtained
The Werewolf of Paris and
The Mummy. He now seeks the first edition of
Dracula. Berber has invented an "Archetype Inducer" and plans to use the manuscripts to bring the four greatest monsters from horror history to life and control them. Berber eventually returns to the library, looking for the first edition of
Dracula. Anna holds him at bay with a pair of scissors and phones David. Before David can arrive, Berber zaps Anna with a
taser. He then both takes the
Dracula manuscript and Anna to his laboratory. Anna is handcuffed to a table. Berber says that she is just what he needs: a virgin between the ages of 20 and 35 to be sacrificed naked to make the Archetype Inducer work. After finding Beber's address, David breaks into the lab. He overcomes Berber and releases Anna. She grabs the manuscripts, and the two leave the lab. However, Berber had already turned on the Archetype Inducer. While David and Anna are making their escape, the four monsters step out of the machine. The Mummy, Frankenstein's monster, The Wolfman, and Dracula, however, are all
midgets. Berber says that the monsters can be increased in stature if they can recapture Anna. David later demands $6,200 to Anna for his services. The monsters later kidnap her supervisor Miss Christina, thinking that she is Anna. At the lab, they understand their mistake. Dracula, however, forces Berber to try the procedure with Christina. The experiment does not work. Dracula later fails to get Anna's address from David and tries to bite his neck. David exposes
his crucifix and races out the door. Assuming that he will lead them to Anna, the monsters and Berber follow as David goes to the library. There, the monsters capture Anna and David. At the lab, Berber finds out that Anna is not a virgin. Dracula suggests that they should find another virgin to go through the procedure, but Berber says that that will unbalance things. The only way to keep everything balanced is to find a virgin male. After asking, Dracula is assured that David is indeed a virgin. While the
human sacrifice is being prepared, Anna points out to the monsters that they will eventually die if they stay in the real world as all humans do. But if they return to their respective novels, they will live on forever. While David and Anna escape from their cuffs, Berber starts his machine. Christina then reappears as a Viking, grabs Berber, and disappears with him. Anna and David conclude that the machine turned the two into archetypes of a Viking and a
mad scientist. After pondering about what Anna said, the monsters tell David to start the machine again. The four are sucked back into their respective novels. Anna later gives David a check for $6,200 and informs him that Berber's lab has been torn down. She also gives him a book, the first English language edition of
Venus in Furs. David, a cinephile, starts droning on about the book's various film adaptations and the people who worked on it, until Anna interrupts him with a kiss. ==Cast==