Elvira - a horror movie star, a witch, and your girlfriend - is in trouble. A demon Cerberus has kidnapped her in order to kill her and gain her power. To save Elvira, you arrive at the studios of Black Widow Productions, where she is being held. Unfortunately, the whole studio is filled with monsters, as the horror movie sets have turned real.
Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus is an adventure/RPG first-person game. You begin by choosing one of the four classes for your character (which determines your starting attributes). For movement, you click the arrows in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Collecting items can be done via clicking on them in the first-person view window and dragging them into your inventory.
Should you encounter monsters, you fight by clicking on them. You can choose one of the four tactics (Normal, Defense, Fierce, Berserk) when fighting, and there's a number of different weapons you can find in the game. If you meet someone who doesn't want to murder you, you can talk to him, though conversations are pretty simple and consist mainly of short phrases.
As you defeat monsters, explore the game world and cast spells (using Elvira's spellbook), you get experience. Once you have enough experience, you gain a level, and your attributes improve.
Casting a spell requires using Power Points (PP), which regenerate automatically but slowly. Each spell has a limited number of castings, so don't waste them. To create a spell, you need to be at a high enough level and have the proper ingredients, which are usually gone forever once the spell is ready.