Obsessed with bringing back the dead and seeking the road to immortality, the ambitious medical student, Herbert West, triggers a horrific incident at a medical institute in Switzerland. He flees to New England to start anew. Herbert begins with Rufous, his roommate's cat. Next, he moves to human cadavers in the hospital morgue. He cajoles his skeptical roommate, Dan, into joining his project. This angers the dean because his daughter Megan and Dan have a rather serious relationship underway. He expels Herbert and takes away Dan scholarship money. When the dean later surprises them in the morgue, the corpse that they had animated kills him. They reanimate him, too. This allows Herbert's arch-nemesis, Dr Hill, to jump in. He wants the dean's daughter as well as the secret of Herbert's neon green serum. He uses his laser drill technique to win control of the dean. When he tries to force the serum formula from Herbert, he loses his head. His supply of stolen serum keeps his head going. He goes after the daughter as well as launching his own retaliation scheme. Soon every corpse in the morgue population has been re-animated.