[3][4] The film tells the story of a young man who cannot control his urge to kill people for their blood, and the police investigation searching for the murderer.
Steve Adams, a theology student, begins to suspect he may be a vampire after a series of blood-draining murders in his town.
A detective in the small town has hired Inspector Butterfield, a bumbling expert from England, to be his assistant in the investigation of the 27 murders.
At the police station, Butterfield explains how he had tracked down and defeated Dracula with a wooden stake and that these murders fit the same profile, but the detective tells him to stop talking and get to work.
Steve finds his father lying on the ground, and the preacher manages to give him a letter from Amy before passing away.
Steve gives a sermon for his father, but cringes when he sees a girl accidentally prick her finger in one of the pews.
[1][2][5] An abbreviated cast list with an asterisk (*) denoting hearing actors[1][5] Peter Wechsberg attended Gallaudet University and was in the inaugural troupe of the National Theater of the Deaf before going on to write and direct Deafula.
[5] The world of the film is an imaginary one where no hearing people exist: all the characters communicate in ASL, make calls with a teletypewriter, and use visual doorbells.
[3][10] In 1977, Wechsberg signed an agreement with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to distribute twelve 16 mm prints of the film.
"[5] Psychotronic Video magazine reviewed the film in 1999, lauding the cinematography as "actually pretty good" and describing the ending as "very Christian".