Seemingly safe in witness protection after betraying his former crime family, a wannabe big city gangster discovers he’s trapped in a different kind of prison in an isolated Texas town.

SYNOPSIS:

After turning on his Mafia family, wannabe gangster and informant, BOBBY “QUACK QUACK” MARELLA, endures a culture shock worse than any lonely prison cell. Marella is transported by FBI AGENT HOGAN from New York to Texas and put into the hands of FEDERAL MARSHAL GIBBONS and the Witness Protection Program. Gibbons drives through never-ending dirt plains until they reach the isolated town of Exodus, decades behind any form of modern progress. The culture shock sinks in even further when Gibbons shows where he would be staying in: The Van Erickson property. The two-story farmhouse and ranch, a former symbol of opulence, have fallen into disrepair both inside and out. Marella is confined to the first floor and can’t get a straight answer from Gibbons on when or even if the Van Ericksons will be coming back. All he is told is to respect the house – and do not go upstairs.

But though in hiding, Marella begins to feel like he is not alone and can’t figure out if it is the natural sounds of an old house (rustling from the upstairs) and the indigenous creepy crawlies (spiders and snakes) or just the solitary confinement of his situation. Venturing into town he feels the stares from the locals, even getting bullied by a few good ole’ boys. When a mysterious teenager, LIZ, helps him out by giving him a ride back home, he finds out that the Van Ericksons had a bloody and violent past that dated all the way back to the formation of Exodus. Marella wonders if they townsfolk know of his treacherous past or just hate him staying in the Van Erickson’s home. But nightmares of vengeful mobsters, a slain innocent family and a house with a past force him to seek refuge in the bottom of a bottle at the local bar which ends in a severe beating. Liz comes to his rescue and as she nurses his wounds, the mentally and emotionally fragile Marella reveals his betrayal to not only his Mafia family but his gangster father as well. Falling for him, Liz reveals that the former owner of the home, Danny Van Erickson, never came home because he and his family were gunned down while on vacation – in New York.

Marella continues lose his mind when he is forced to admit that, in a bid to become legitimized into the Mafia world, his plan had gone tragically wrong and the Van Ericksons were killed as innocent bystanders. Word that the mistrial of his former Mafia family tips him over the edge when he learns that his own old-school gangster father has okayed a hit on him. Marella’s decent into madness is complete when he learns that, not only is Liz the one behind the “hauntings” he had been experiencing in the house, but that she is the daughter of Danny Van Erickson. Believing that the townsfolk and New York mob are closing in on him, Marella tries to kill Liz to escape but Liz gets her long-sought revenge by killing him first.