Love and Venom
Genre: Drama
Logline: After fleeing home as a child to escape the wrath of his deranged mother, a young man returns years later when he learns that his beloved father has just a few days to live and his mother wants to follow him to the gates of heaven.
Synopsis:
When Tim learns that his father, Conor, is about to die, he returns to his boyhood home to say goodbye to the man he’s loved and admired his entire life. Nessa, his mother, a strange and haunted old woman, had been bitten by a copperhead years before and swears she can still feel the venom burning in her veins. Tim’s father begs him to stay for a few days to help her after he passes. Tim promises he will, and moments later, Conor is dead.
Tim remains with his mother and tries to keep her tethered to reality, but she gets more and more unbalanced every day. Ravaged by her husband’s death, Nessa claims that Conor has started leaving love letters on her nightstand and comes to believe that he wants her to join him on the other side. Tim seeks medical help for her, but Nessa warns him that his life is in danger and that the only place that's safe is heaven. Then she freezes to death on Conor’s grave.
Tim returns home to his pregnant wife, Maria. A terrible windstorm knocks the power out. Fetching lanterns from the shed, Tim gets bitten by a rattlesnake. In pain and delirium, he staggers back inside to find that Maria’s water has broken and she’s in labor. They try to call an ambulance, but there’s no cell service. A tree crashes down and blocks their driveway. Plagued by Nessa’s dire warning, they need to reach the hospital if the family’s going to survive.