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.