The Damned Thing (Masters of Horror)

Plot

"The Damned Thing" (inspired by Ambrose Bierce's classic short story of the same title) is the apocalyptic tale of a monstrous force that devastates Sheriff Kevin Reddle's family and his small Texas town of Cloverdale. As a child, Reddle's father goes berserk, guns down his wife and almost kills Kevin, before being disemboweled by an invisible force. Before he dies, Kevin's father says the "damned thing" has found him.

In the present day, Kevin (Sean Patrick Flanery) is now the town sheriff and insists on living in his childhood home. He has mounted surveillance cameras around the house. The mental strain has driven away his wife Dina (Marisa Coughlan), who has taken their son Mikey with her.

A rash of violent deaths plague the town, and Kevin realizes the same force that drove his father to murder---the Damned Thing—is still active. He discovers that decades ago, a neighboring town was plagued by the same madness after opening a new oil well that subsequently dried up. Many of the citizens killed each other, and Kevin's parents were among the survivors. Kevin believes that the same force sought out his father and killed him and is now after him.

Madness sweeps over Cloverdale, and even Dina is not immune: only Kevin's intervention stops her from killing their son. He, however, is soon swept up in the madness, and his wife and son are forced to escape. A furious Kevin shoots the town priest (Ted Raimi), who believes that Mikey has inherited the same evil.

As Kevin prepares to kill Dina and Mikey, the Damned Thing—a giant, semi-solid creature of oil—rises from the earth and swallows Kevin whole. Dina and Mikey flee in their vehicle; however, they run out of gas down the road and the creature attacks them. It is not known if they survive.