The series is set in Pine Deep, a fictional rural Pennsylvania town that becomes plagued by an evil force thought previously killed thirty years ago.
Their friend and the mayor of Pine Deep, Terry Wolfe, has been suffering a terrible psychological breakdown that has roots in a moment of childhood trauma where his sister was murdered by Griswold and he was nearly killed.
While Crow and Newton are down in Dark Hollow, a remote spot where Griswold both lived and died, one of Ruger’s companions, Boyd, has become a strange kind of mindless vampire.
During this, Crow and Newton investigate Griswold's seemingly abandoned house in Dark Hollow, only to almost die after the porch collapses in on them and a swarm of cockroaches attempts to attack them.
Mike continues to be stalked by Tow Truck Eddie as Val, Newton, and Crow attempt to reach out to a Pennsylvania researcher that specializes in the occult, Jonatha.
Meanwhile, Vic Wingate continues to prepare for the upcoming "Red Wave" that will bring back Griswold on Halloween Night, only for Ruger to eventually end up killing his wife Lois and transforming her into a living vampire.
During this time the Red Wave begins to take effect in the town, with all paths of escape blown up by bombs and most of the townspeople taken out by candy and beverages spiked with psychedelic drugs.
"[6] Author Jonathan Maberry includes a number of real world elements in his novels, and this is most apparent in the final book of the trilogy, Bad Moon Rising.
Pine Deep’s Halloween Festival is the centerpiece of the story and several actual celebrities from the horror industry appear as 'guest stars' including Ken Foree (star of the original Dawn of the Dead), makeup effects wizard Tom Savini, scream queens Brinke Stevens and Debbie Rochon, screenwriter Stephen Susco (The Grudge and Grudge 2), writer-director James Gunn (remake of Dawn of the Dead and Slither), drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs, and actor, stuntman and haunted attraction consultant Jim O'Rear.