Rescue and recovery specialists Marc and Dana Huntington race through the Amazon to rescue a missing paleontologist while battling desperate criminals, Dana’s ex-husband, and supernatural phenomena released from a fiery artifact known as the Amazon Skull.

SYNOPSIS:

Dead Man’s Fire, a feature screenplay synopsis

By Thom Reese

LOGLINE: Rescue and recovery specialists Marc and Dana Huntington race through the Amazon to rescue a missing paleontologist while battling desperate criminals, Dana’s ex-husband, and supernatural phenomena released from a fiery artifact known as the Amazon Skull.

Husband and wife rescue and recovery specialists DANA and MARC (HUNT) HUNTINGTON are attempting to recover a rare artifact when they encounter thief for hire, JONATHAN THORPE – Dana’s first husband. The sticky point is, Dana had never revealed this previous marriage to Hunt. Oops! As the couple argues, Thorpe makes away with the prize. Later, the Huntingtons go in search of paleontologist ANDY LINDELL who, after discovering a fossilized skull with strange mystic writings carved into its interior, has gone missing in the Amazon. Meanwhile, Thorpe accepts an assignment from creepy Billionaire madman JOSHUA TULL to retrieve this same artifact.

Reaching the paleontological dig site, the Huntingtons find the entire scientific team burned to death. The sole survivor, GREGORY MILTON, had been on a supply run during the fire. Questioning him, they learn Lindell had found an artifact known as the Amazon Skull, which supposedly has the power incinerate foes and raise the dead. They soon discover a hidden cave populated with dozens of bodies on stone slabs. The bodies are perfectly preserved and dressed in clothing of different eras in history: a samurai, an ancient Egyptian, etc. The bodies are warm, and some have a barely a discernable pulse. They find Milton among these. Reviving him, they learn that the skull was both the cause of and had the cure or the zombie-like occupants. Before falling into a coma, he instructs Dana to take his camera which has photos of the writing on the skull, which, if translated, could wake him and the others.

Thorpe, along with SIMON HAAS and TINA COLLINS who were assigned to him by Tull, investigate the same cave. Haas takes tissue samples of the comatose to send to Tull. Following a lead, they capture Lindell, learning that he has shipped the skull to a Brazilian university. They take Lindell prisoner. Then, determining that Dana has Milton’s camera containing photos of the mystic writing, kidnap Dana. Thorpe protests, but the hulking Haas threatens him. Dana then proceeds to tell Thorpe exactly how rodent-like he is. Hunt tracks them, learns where they’re headed, and races to intercept them.

At the university, Dana receives a minor bullet wound while escaping. Lindell disappears during the scuffle. Thorpe and Dana evade Haas and Collins, making their way to the science building where the skull should be located. Hunt encounters Dana and Thorpe and, after Hunt decks Thorpe, they locate Lindell. Haas nearly kills Dana, but to everyone’s surprise, Collins shoots him in the head. Thorpe slips away with the skull and Collins reveals she is a deep undercover CIA operative assigned to derail Tull’s schemes. She enlists the Huntingtons to help retrieve the skull from Tull, who by now should be at the cave. Upon reaching the cave, they find Tull performing a ritual that awakens the sleeping horde. He orders them to attack the Huntingtons. Finally realizing Tull’s a lunatic, Thorpe fights alongside the others. There’s a riveting battle scene with the reanimated bodies. Dana destroys the skull, at which point the animated bodies stop attacking. The good guys win, Thorpe leaves alone, and there’s a cave full of ancient former zombies wondering where they are and what just happened.

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