It occasionally breaks the fourth wall rule with characters looking at the camera, and one even saying "I'm in the wrong movie".

The film opens with two short sequences before the main story line begins, first a prologue, and then a mock television advertisement.

In the prologue, a seemingly helpless young woman is pursued by Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, and Freddy Krueger; she is then chased into a cave and reappears a few seconds later with an item from each of the three.

The advertisement sequence is for a "mortuary, crematory, cemetery" called "Death City" where a salesman tries selling viewers "new and used coffins", with the help of his assistant Lovely Rita.

Dexter Ward (Steve Altman)[7] enters a 'Death City' location, and is greeted by two morticians, one of which is noted science fiction anthologist Forrest J. Ackerman in a cameo appearance, who is holding a copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland.

After helping his uncle out of the coffin and back to a library, Dexter is then sent by his uncle Ephram (Jay Robinson) to find and bring back The Book of Ulthar, a book of great power capable of unleashing terrible evil in the wrong hands; librarian Ephram had mistakenly let someone check it out.

Victor Van Helsing (Ace Mask),[8] a professional vampire hunter, accompanies Marissa and Dexter to the castle as the executor of her father's estate.

Orlock is determined to find the book so that he can create an age of evil; assisting him is the butler Stephan (Angus Scrimm).

Dexter arranges for Marissa to make her latest music video in the castle, with the help of her vampire cousins and Helsing.

[10] Most of the film consists of silly moments of comedy and parody; e.g., when Pinhead steps out of an acupuncturist's office and says, "I don't care what anyone says — this hurts!"

Many of the films characters are parodies of other sources, including; Dexter Ward from The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, Byron Orlock from Targets, Van Helsing from Dracula, and the mock advertisement scene's Lovely Rita.

The film also contains puns such as "Vampires of the Caribbean", "Elvis has left the body", and "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" being spoken as part of the spell to summon the Evil One as well as classic gags such as a Pie in the face for the Ayatollah, and Dexter finding a Skeleton in the closet.

[13] One of its most positive reviews comes from Variety stating that "mixed into the cosmic stew are many delightful reflexive bits", and that it "is an occasionally hilarious horror spoof notable for the range of its comical targets".