Billionaire Charles Deaver (Richard Fitzpatrick), who has been heavily disfigured by an automobile accident, seeks to save his life by investing in the work of Dr. Nathaniel Leech (James Binkley). Leech is a scientist developing a serum to regenerate dead cells, which he hopes to use to save his wife Miranda, who is dying of leukemia. When he presents the serum to Deaver, Leech explains that as the serum works, the patient will develop a ravenous hunger that must be treated with a special formula to avoid side effects. Deaver has his henchmen, including his top deputy Krendal (Wendy Anderson), brutally beat Leech; after Krendal shoots the doctor several times, Deaver orders his men to inject Leech with the serum and lock him in an underground tunnel system overnight, to see if the serum indeed works and regenerates him. As he does not have access to the accompanying formula, Leech's hunger quickly drives him to eat a rat and later a dog. He begins to mutate into a hybrid creature shortly thereafter.