Aboard their plane, one of the thieves manages to open the coffin, revealing the dormant body of Count Dracula. Dracula awakens and attacks and turns the thieves and Solina , causing the plane to crash in the Louisiana swamps. Dracula survives the crash, and turns news reporter Valerie Sharpe who is reporting the crash , kills her cameraman and travels to New Orleans, where college students Mary Heller and Lucy Westerman are living. Estranged from her family, Mary has recently been experiencing nightmares of a strange, terrifying man.