In 1954, Dr. John Wainright, a former academic-turned-illusionist (Larry Hankin), publishes a book about reincarnation in which he espouses to be the mesmerist Svengali, reincarnated. His publisher, Sir Stephen (Norman Pierce), reveals that he is the reincarnation of the leader of the Society of the Bleeding Rose, a Satanic cult. Sir Stephen convinces John that he is there to replenish the cult's psychic energy via human sacrifice: The intended goal of the ritual is to transfer Stephen's soul into the body of the sacrificed individual during a double suicide; their deaths must occur at the moment of orgasm for the transference to work.