Fiends

ZOE BARLOW, a naïve but determined 19 year old, goes to her first warehouse rave, with a group of her eclectic friends. The only problem is a new drug is turning all the ravers into cannibalistic Fiends, who only care about banging tunes and human flesh. Zoe and her friends have to battle their way out of the warehouse, whilst dealing with both the drugs in their system and the druggies trying to eat them. Along the way their personal issues fracture the group and they have to face the real reasons they were taking drugs in the first place – for better and for worse. Fiends is a thrill-seeking horror-comedy, which pushes you headfirst into the rave-world, full of music, thrills and gore. It’s Skins meets Dawn of the Dead, with an extra few grams of hilarity. FULL OUTLINE: ZOE, 19, naïve, but desperate to take on the world, goes to her first warehouse rave with her new group of friends: SHAMAN, 23, a psychedelic yeti, RED, 21, a chemistry genius; and his girlfriend, a 20 year old Ibiza-warrior, with the nickname ‘18’. They arrive at the cavernous warehouse, with abandoned offices attached, the whole place is heaving with sweaty, energetic dancers. Zoe is nervous, but comes up on MDMA for the first time and is euphoric. Soon, she meets VANCE, 21, a confident, low-level dealer, who she has a crush on from school. The duo bond and Zoe feels confident enough to show Vance a house song she has produced. However, things take a turn as on the dancefloor, when Zoe finds Vance kissing 18, who plans to make Red jealous. Zoe is deeply hurt, but before she can react, the rave descends into chaos as a bad set of pills turn half the ravers into cannibals, who only want to move to pounding beats and feed on human flesh – these are the ‘Fiends’ – strong, fast and immune to pain, but constrained by the beat of the music. Our heroes try to escape, but Shaman and Zoe are split off from Red, 18 and Vance. In some adjacent offices, Zoe and Shaman find that all the fire-exits are bolted shut, but Zoe notices that the fiends are still moving to the music, and realises that if you can keep in time with the beat, you might be able to dodge the fiends. Meanwhile, Red, 18 and Vance argue about Vance’s betrayal of Red, but suddenly the ceiling collapses in as Fiends crash through into the room. The gang are attacked, but the fiends suspiciously leave 18 alone. They all run for the exit, Vance gets their first, but is so scared he locks the door behind him, leaving 18 and Red trapped. Zoe leads Shaman through a hallway full of fiends, using her musical timing to dodge them, and eventually escapes into a deserted open-air courtyard in the centre of office buildings. Vance finds them there, but they have no phone signal – they are trapped and the fiends are fighting to get to them. Vance and Zoe share a tender moment, but a window behind the duo smashes and Red comes tumbling out, pulling 18 behind him – they survived! Red attacks Vance for closing the door, but during the fight, 18 turns into a Fiend – she’d taken the pills. The gang restrain her, Zoe makes a plan and leads our heroes back into the rave in an attempt to escape. The gang fights through the rave, eventually reaching the balcony over the main room, but the exit is blocked by a horde of ballistic fiends. Zoe suggests that if just one person takes the tainted pill, they won’t be attacked on the come-up, but will still be able to get out and get help; as evidenced by 18 surviving the fiends initially. Red takes the drug, but it has no effect, due to the fact he has taken Xanax earlier in the evening – the interactions between the drugs cancel out. They feed 18 a Xanax and find that her eyes return to normal, however she is in desperate pain and only wants to be a fiend again. The gang gather as much Xanax as they can from a drugs stash in the back of the warehouse. They tip it into the horde of fiends in the main room; however, Red has forgotten one crucial ingredient – zinc, (a supplement used to reduce cell death in MDMA users); without it, the fiends go insane and start feeding on each other. The gang get trapped on the first floor and have to escape onto an upper catwalk, but they can’t get through the horde. Shaman realises the situation and sacrifices himself to get the rest of the gang up – the others escape, while he jumps down into the horde below, embracing his demise. Our heroes make it into a kitchen, where 18 finds a load of tainted pills and becomes a fiend again – the gang are out of Xanax and out of options. Red blames Vance for the ordeal and is willing to let 18 eat him alive, but there is a powercut and the music goes off. 18 screams and starts tearing at her skin – fiends can’t live without the music and kill themselves and those around them. Zoe quickly shoves her earphones in 18’s ears and plays the house song she has created: 18 is suddenly passive due to the power of Zoe’s song – they have a chance! Red hides 18 placidly in a cupboard, swearing they will come back for her. In the main room, Vance and Red reconcile their differences and drop down onto the stage to distract the horde. Meanwhile, Zoe gets behind the DJ decks and plays her song. The Fiends are controlled by Zoe’s song, so the trio make a run for the exit, shutting the entrance door, and trapping the fiends inside. Our heroes have escaped into the dawnlight, Zoe kisses Vance in celebration, but on the other side of the world, the tainted pills are manufactured on a massive conveyer belt – ready to create more chaos.