New York City nightclub owner J. P. Monroe purchases the “Pillar of Souls,” six-foot-tall, marble statue carved with distorted faces, and displays it in his trendy club, the Boiler Room. One night, when a young clubgoer steps too close to the Pillar of Souls, chains and hooks emerge from the statue and entangle him. Television news reporter Joanne “Joey” Summerskill is in the emergency room covering another story when the paramedics arrive. Seeing the blood-soaked chains wrapped around the man’s body, Joey goes to the operating room and observes the chains become electrified. They electrocute the victim, making his face explode. At the Boiler Room, Joey looks for Terri, the young woman who accompanied the victim to the ER. Terri goes to Joey’s penthouse apartment and explains that the chains came from a strange puzzle box carved into the Pillar of Souls. She pulls the square, palm-sized box from her bag, telling Joey it came off the statue during the incident. Meanwhile at the club, J. P. Monroe moves the statue into his bedroom above the club and notices a hole where the puzzle box was carved. When he sticks his hand in the hole, a rat hiding inside bites him. J. P. shakes his bleeding hand, and the Pillar of Souls absorbs the drops of blood. Terri takes Joey to the closed art gallery where the Pillar of Souls was on display. Breaking in, they go through records and learn the statue was the property of the Channard Institute. Joey contacts the establishment and requests a videotape regarding the statue. The tape shows a young woman named Kirsty Cotton explaining that demons live inside the puzzle box, and it is a “gateway to hell.” Meanwhile, J. P. has sex with a clubgoer named Sandy, and afterward tells her to leave. Sandy argues, but as she steps too close to the statue, chains and hooks emerge and drag her toward it. As chains rip her flesh, the statue “absorbs” her. A moment later, her face appears as one of the distorted visages carved in the pillar. Just then, the face of “Pinhead,” pierced by needle-like pins, appears in the statue and speaks to J. P. The club owner fires a gun at the statue, but the bullets are absorbed. Pinhead instructs J. P. to bring him more clubgoers so he can be feed on them and eventually be freed from the pillar. In return, he promises J. P. greater powers. J. P. invites Terri, his former girl friend, to the club. Enticing her to his bedroom, he drags her near the statue, but she resists and knocks him unconscious with brass knuckles. Pinhead’s face suddenly appears on the statue and speaks to her, promising a life of unknown pleasures. When Terri tries to get the key to unlock the door from J. P.’s pants, she moves his body close enough to the statue for chains and hooks to emerge and engulf his body. Moments after J. P.’s body is absorbed, his face appears on the statue. An instant later, Pinhead’s entire body emerges from the statue, and he is free to roam the Earth. Meanwhile, Joey Summerskill dreams about her father, who died in the Vietnam War. The dream landscape changes to a World War I battlefield where she meets British Army Captain Elliot Spencer. He explains that he is trapped in limbo between heaven and hell. After the war, Elliot discovered the puzzle box and experienced many carnal pleasures through its power. However, his soul was split in half, with the good half, Elliot, trapped in limbo, and the evil half, Pinhead, left on Earth. Elliot informs Joey that the puzzle box is a gateway to hell, and Pinhead wants to destroy it, but Elliot can stop him. He instructs Joey to bring Pinhead to him, cautioning her to never give Pinhead the puzzle box. Back at the Boiler Room, Pinhead releases hooks, chains, knives, and javelins, which kill many patrons. Joey awakens to hear the television news reporting on the massacre. She hurries to the club with the puzzle box. There, Pinhead offers to give her special powers if she surrenders the box, but she refuses and runs out. On the street, Pinhead tries to kill her with live electrical wires and explosions, then sends demons after her. Joey runs into a church, but Pinhead follows, destroys its stained glass windows, and confronts a priest. When demons attack Joey at a construction site, she activates the puzzle and releases a beam of light that disintegrates them. Joey is transported to a field where she meets her dead father. As they embrace, he asks her for the box. She hands it to her father, who then transforms into Pinhead. A moment later, they are transported to a room where Elliot Spencer awaits. Pinhead drops the puzzle box as he and Elliot struggle, and their bodies merge. Joey activates the puzzle box, which changes into a dagger. As she stabs the merged creature, their body disintegrates. Pinhead and Eliot’s souls are absorbed into the box. Transported back to the construction site, Joey buries the puzzle box in wet cement.