The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire

The film begins with the mysterious death of a monk in Whitechapel, rumored to be the work of a vampire. At 221B Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are visited by Brother Marstoke, who explains that his order is being stalked by a demon named Desmodo, a giant vampire bat-demon from their time in Guyana. Marstoke describes how several brothers died in South America with puncture wounds and blood-scrawled messages, and now the horror has followed them to London, claiming the life of Brother Sinclair. Holmes, ever the skeptic, dismisses the supernatural and visits the Abbey to investigate. He meets the survivors of the Guyana mission, including the sickly Brother Abel, the antagonistic Brother Caulder, and the housekeeper Signora de la Rosa. The investigation deepens when Brother John is murdered in an alley while accompanied by Sister Helen, who describes a winged figure and a pungent, oily smell. Inspector Jones of Scotland Yard focuses his suspicion on Dr. Chagas, a naturalist and bat expert who had a previous conflict with the order. However, Holmes realizes Chagas is innocent after discovering the 'blood' on the doctor's gloves is actually bat blood from his research. Holmes eventually deduces that the killer is actually Brother Abel, who has been faking his illness and incapacitation for over a year. Abel, driven to madness by the disease he contracted in Guyana and resentful of Marstoke's leadership, used a modified garden claw to mimic vampire bites and frighten his victims to death. In a dramatic climax at the church, Holmes confronts Abel. A literal 'Deus ex machina' occurs when a structural subsidence caused by the construction of the London Underground saves Holmes from Abel's attack. The film concludes on Christmas Day with the mystery solved, though Watson notes the 'miraculous' timing of the church's floor collapsing, which fulfilled a spiritualist's prophecy that the church would save Holmes.