The plot follows a journalist investigating a series of child murders in an insular Italian village whose residents are riddled with superstition and mistrust.

Meanwhile, in the hills surrounding the village, La Magiara, a reclusive Gypsy witch, conducts black magic ceremonies, first by digging up the skeletal remains of an infant and then plunging pins through the heads of three clay dolls.

Amid local hysteria, Giuseppe is arrested when he picks up a ransom he demanded from Bruno's parents for the boy's return.

A few nights later, during a raging thunderstorm, Michele sneaks out of his house to meet with someone he speaks to over the phone, and he too is murdered by an unseen assailant; his body is found the following morning.

Andrea Martelli, a journalist from Rome, meets and befriends Patrizia, whom he recognizes as a former newspaper reporter from Milan.

The villagers ostracize Patrizia because of her big-city ways, perceived lack of morality and modern dress style.

She also has various seemingly sinister interactions with several children from the town, including Michele, whom she seductively teases, then rejects, while nude.

However, it appears that she believes her Voodoo dolls and incantations alone caused the deaths, and she professes to have no interest in nor awareness of the physical methods used.

[4] It initially received a limited release in Europe due to the film's themes, among which was criticism of the Roman Catholic Church.

[6] The film was made available for the first time ever in the United States by Anchor Bay as part of the "Lucio Fulci Collection", uncut and remastered, containing its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 for the DVD release.

[7] In the United Kingdom, Shameless Screen Entertainment made the film available on DVD on 29 August 2011 in a "Shameless Fan Edition", which contains, for the first time, optional English and Italian audio and subtitles, the Italian theatrical trailer and a booklet adapted by Stephen Thrower from Beyond Terror, his definitive book.