Escargot

Genre: Comedy/Sci-Fi

Script: Original story and screenplay by Mark Stouffer.

Synopsis: This outrageous parody opens in a thunderstorm, as two truckers en route for a disposal site shirk responsibility and dump their tanker full of powerful chemicals and steroids into a rural neighborhood. As thousands of gallons of dangerous goo blankets a colony of garden variety SNAILS, a bolt of lightning rips from the sky, electrifying the mollusks in a blinding spectacle. Instantly, a cataclysmic reaction starts changing them into gargantuan, venomous spitting, electrified mutants that jump like slimy kangaroos.

Nearby, a lively weekend barbecue is underway, filling the secluded mountain home of TYRONE and JERRICA with four young couples, unsuspecting of the killing horde sliming their way. At the party are combat-shocked THUMPER and his sultry wife, TRISHA; the cheater, RC and jealous SHELLY; GRAY, the genius of the group, and sexually curious APRIL. As drink dulls their inhibitions, kicking the colorful, comical mix into full gear, the menace closes in. The shocked group suddenly find themselves marooned in the house, cut off from the outside. Chaos gives way to panic. In a pressure cooker setting, with death ricocheting off every door and window, heroes are quickly separated from cowards, and the worst, and best, of their humanity surfaces in a ticking clock struggle for survival.

Preposterous, suspenseful, and wonderfully original, this story is a hilarious tapestry of raw human courage, fear, heated passion and unforgivable deceit, as facing doom, they each try to wring a final ounce of pleasure from what could be their final hours. The story climaxes with a fiery, horrific battle, from which they emerge united and victorious.

Status: Under option to RHI Entertainment (Robert Halmi).