The film opens with a news broadcast on the apparent sighting of a "mysterious creature" on the UCLA campus. Among those interviewed are underachieving student Alex Kominski (Corey Parker) and his girlfriend Cathy Adams (Melora Hardin). Although neither claim to believe in the creature's existence, a hunchbacked figure (Allan Katz) is shown looking down from the bell tower, spying on Cathy through a telescope.