At a Hollywood party, Max Block, the head of Paragon Pictures, learns that his star actress, Marie Morrison, has become engaged to makeup man Vince Rinaud. Enraged, Max throws a glass of brandy which ignites and deeply scars Rinaud's face. Brooding over the disfigurement, Rinaud becomes a recluse and sets up a wax museum. Within a few months, four Paragon stars disappear, including Tony Deane, now affianced to Marie. A police detective notices that the missing stars quickly become immortalized in Rinaud's museum. Rinaud uses a go-go dancer, Carissa, to lure Max to the museum, and there he is given a drugged drink. He then learns that the missing actors have been turned into living statues by injections of a formula perfected by Rinaud. Rinaud kills Carissa and leaves evidence to frame Max for the murder, then impersonates Max and fakes suicide. Just as Max is about to be lowered into a cauldron of boiling wax, a thunderstorm negates the effects of the drug; and the statues come to life and force Rinaud into the vat. A phone call from Marie awakens Rinaud, and he realizes that he has had a bizarre nightmare. She reminds him of their plan to tell Max of their engagement at a party that night.