In this supernatural chiller based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story of the same name, Dean Stockwell plays the leader of a group of academics determined to find the secret to killing the alien beings that are threatening to destroy humankind. Thwarting him at every step of the way is the hulking, drooling Wilbur Whateley (Jeffrey Combs), who along with the rest of his inbred Louisiana clan, is hell-bent on freeing the evil creatures.