Poachers

DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is secretly transporting Cheroots down river in a barge to a secure sanctuary to research them in a natural setting. However a tornado breaks it loose from the tow. The barge crashes and sinks while releasing the creatures in the river. DARREN, an inner city teen, is rivaled in school with FIDDLER, a redneck river rat teen. After the tornado strange things begin to happen. Fiddler, who poaches sturgeon for caviar eggs with his father, raises up a fish trap containing something alien. Fiddler’s father gets too close to the trapped beast and gets stung by its poisonous pinchers. Immediately he is paralyzed. Fiddler harpoons the beast and discovers through a wound it is carrying large eggs similar to a sturgeon. At the same time, Darren is coerced by his cousin to take part in a weapon and drug deal on a river houseboat. The deal goes sour as the same beasts attack the houseboat. Fiddler hearing gunshots drives to the rescue and is surprised to save his rival. The Cheroot is a monstrous man-sized five-foot long segmented centipede covered in moldy wired fur like a sloth. Spear-like pinchers ooze with venom that extract and contract from the furry head. Antenna or feelers whip the air and ground for hunting. Underneath is the slimy underbelly of a reptile. It has the ability to change circulatory systems (warm and cold blooded) to thrive in multiple environments. They can swim in water and slither quickly on land. We discover the beasts were captured from an intercepted alien ship a year ago by the military and have been imprisoned for research. An alien race sent the genetically engineered beasts to consume, clean and filter impurities in the water and air to make the earth habitable for the aliens in the future. The Cheroots would be an ecological boon for the planet, but the only problem is that they are genetically engineered to poach humans and use mucus cocoons as a RDS (Rapidly Decomposing Chamber). Thus cleaning and ridding the earth of humans too. Fiddler and Darren try to fight the beasts off at the river cabin, but the Cheroot takes Fiddler’s father away in a mucus cocoon. The teens humorously and accidentally discover the only defense against the monster is Fiddler’s late mother’s special “Burnin’ Love” hot sauce. The Cheroots ransack a small river town and collect their human victims/ cocoons in a limestone cave just off the river. The teens discover their location and drive the houseboat of weapons. Fiddler saves his father and try to escape on the houseboat from the charging Cheroots. However, the beasts have tangled the propeller in mucus and the houseboat becomes a floating death trap. The Cheroots circle the boat like hungry sharks and the final battle begins. As our hero’s demise is almost certain in the sinking houseboat, Fiddler is ready to pull a grenade pin. However, Darren stops him and negotiates a perilous trade with the beasts. The Cheroot eggs for their lives. “Poachers” is a modern, more racially inclusive Mark Twain teen family adventure/horror with a novel ecological creature feature and theme. The film speaks to multi generations and would have international appeal.