"Liquid" (working title)

Nobody believes the town's fluoride-fearing conspiracy nut, who's the only citizen left unaffected when strange contaminants in the water supply turn everyone else into paranoid psychotics. It's up to a ragtag band of outcast crazies, drinking anything BUT water, to save the town's sanity, or at least, survive it.

The colorful but harmless town conspiracy nut and his unconventional family are town pariahs because the dad has always railed against fluoridation of town water. A mysterious contamination (Aliens? A sloppy corporate polluter? Government experiment gone wrong? Who knows, when you're paranoid?) of the town's water starts changing the behavior of all citizens who bathe in it or drink it.

Many innocent scenes, such as the kid's corner lemonade stand, the local swimming pool, a baby's baptism, the football team at practice, the old man watering his lawn, the local charity car wash, all suddenly take on horrific dimensions as the insidious contaminated H2O works its way thru the populace at every level. Once the fatal effects start to manifest, only our "crazy" hero sees the trouble brewing, but he has to first convince his own, long-suffering family to join his crusade. Soon, they realize they are the only ones unaffected as the town goes insane around them.

Meanwhile, the town takes on a nightmarish character as the contaminated citizens from children to the elderly go into illogical rages and sprees of violence. Can our hero defeat the contaminant and save the town? Or even merely escape to warn the authorities he's never trusted? Will he and his family even survive the day in a town gone completely homicidal, and very, VERY thirsty...for blood!

The film will play up the suspense and comedic angles, as the afore-mentioned citizens begin to be affected by irrational thoughts and violent reactions to stimuli. Over and over, normal, everyday situations, lovingly shot without a hint of the mayhem to come, suddenly take on a bizarre and horrific character, from young cute girls at the charity car wash becoming homicidal car-jacking attackers, to a shark-like frenzy at the local pool, to fears of a potentially killer baby, freshly baptized, terrorizing the godparents. Our hero discovers the only way to inoculate oneself against the tainted water is to consume more alcohol than is healthy, and now, our heroes have to fight being drunk while fighting a town of possessed people.

This film is designed to be shot on a practical and modest budget, deriving the thrills, suspense and laughs the "old fashioned way", thru actors really inhabiting their characters in the situation, and the judicious use of makeup and good camera direction and editing, instead of cheezy digital effects. Locations and costumes are all practical, contemporary ones. Any small town will do, as long as it is somewhat secluded or isolated. Main cast is small, but cameos and extras roles are as many as you want to add, in scenes of mass hysteria and mob action.

Lead roles:
Crackpot hero and his 2 teenaged kids

The older son believes in nothing, the younger one believes in anything, and in his dad. Mom left the family when dad made getting along in town impossible. The older son wants to move out and maybe find her. Meanwhile, he has a thing for his High School science teacher, who is sort of a substitute mom, but he doesn't admit that to himself. Both boys hang together in defense against town bullies and because nobody else can relate to them. The boys and their teacher are the ones that ID the problem and concoct a cure.

Sheriff & deputy

Mayor

High school science teacher

Special effects: makeup and prosthesis for wounds, some stunt gags for things like old man chasing people with deadly converted lawnmower, various chases and kill scenes.

The visible gore is relatively small in amount, but leveraged off of the suspense created by the characters and the tense situation of not knowing who has been contaminated and whom to believe.

Genre: Suspense