- A young couple move into a secure gated community and discover its horrifying secret.
- Bobby (Brandon Routh) and Tracy (Shiri Appleby) believe they have found the perfect place to raise a family in the secured and closed community ran by Candace (Barbara Tyson). Not long after they moved in, Bobby starts to feel uneasy by the unusual and forced influence of the neighbors on his family life. And he will find out that perfection is unreachable... No matter how hard you seek for it!—ricardovs27
- Bobby and Tracy want to raise a family with a child but they need a better place to live. When they find a house in an apparently safe and perfect community, the administrator Candace helps them to get the necessary loan and they move to the location. Soon Tracy befriends Arlene but Bobby is uncomfortable with the interference of the neighbors in his life with Tracy. He also finds strange the behavior of people in the community and asks his friend and lawyer Scott to investigate the destiny of the formers dwellers and he finds the truth about the community.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- A young man named Bobby runs through the forest, pursued by men and howling dogs. He sees a bright light and SCREAMS!
Title card: FIVE MONTHS EARLIER.
Bobby approaches a city apartment complex at night. He takes his groceries upstairs, calling for his wife Tracy. He discovers her in the bathroom. Tracy is crying ... her pregnancy test is negative. She not only desperately wants a baby, but also wants to move to the suburbs.
"All I know is that I want to have a baby and I don't want to raise it here," she says.
Another couple -- Scott and Meryl -- arrive for dinner. They suggest moving to the Commons, a supposedly idylilic suburban community. Tracy is intrigued.
Some time later, the two arrive at the gates to the Commons. Massive brick homes stand watch behind a wrought-iron gate. The gate opens. The couple drives through. The gate SLAMS shut.
Welcome to "Fear Itself!"
A too-cheery female named Candace shows the young couple through the neighborhood. Children romp in the yards. The scene is literally picture perfect.
"So why did the previous owners leave?" Bobby asks.
"Business," Candace chirps.
They enter a house. The furniture is included ... and Tracy is ecstatic. Bobby, looking at the opulence surrounding them, isn't so sure.
"We don't belong here," he says.
"Fill out an application," the Candace says. "What do you have to lose?"
A few days later, Tracy pops a bottle of champagne. The house is their's. Bobby asks Candace if there is "a catch." After all, the loans are quite generous.
"We can't survive without people like you investing in our community," Candace says. "We are a finally tuned microcosm based on hundreds of years of research on communal living."
Bobby signs the contract. The deal is done.
FOUR WEEKS LATER, a welcoming committee greets the happy couple at their front door. Bobby sweeps Tracy up and carries her across the threshold. ater, the two spoon in bed. The cuddling session quickly turns hot and heavy.
"What are you doing?" Tracy asks.
"Trying to make a baby with my wife," Bobby responds.
The next morning, an older couple -- Deborah and Phil -- knock on the door. They're even cheerier than Candace. The disconcertingly happy couple has lived in the community for 12 years. Phil invites himself in for a breakfast beer. Bobby is somewhat unnerved. Later that afternoon, Tracy meets a young woman Arlene.
"We just moved in yesterday," Tracy says.
"I know," Arlene says with a smile.
The two say goodbye and Arlene leaves with her little girl. Tracy looks longingly at the happy family when, suddenly, the camera pulls out to reveal Candace watching the scene on a TV monitor. All is clearly not well at the Commons.
Back from an agonizingly long commercial break, Bobby and Christina host a Christmas dinner party for the neighborhood. The wine is flowing freely. Phil, in fact, is imbibing at a prodigious rate.
"I think I need to make liquor run," Bobby says. "These people drink a lot."
Suddenly, Deborah and Phil start yelling at each other.
"You're just all afraid to say anything," Bill screams. "They had no right!"
Deborah smacks her husband in the face. The man goes down, crashing into a coffee table. His foot is bent at an unnatural angle. Phil assures the crowd that everything is alright. Phil's leg, it turns out, is artificial. He twists the foot back into place. A group of neighborhood men escort Phil outside.
A few days later, Bobby is jogging through a light snowfall. He passes Deborah, who is taking out the trash. Bobby asks about Phil.
"I thought you knew his brother died," Deborah says. "He had to go take care of him."
That night, Bobby watches TV while his wife sleeps. He turns the channel to see a female neighbor from across the street. She is in a compromising position with a man who is not her husband. Suddenly, the husband enters, yelling.
"What's going on here?" Bobby whispers.
TWO WEEKS LATER, Bobby hears an answering machine message from Arlene. The neighbor knows that the young couple has had trouble conceiving. Bobby is upset that his wife is sharing the details of their sex life. He doesn't have time to argue, however. Bobby has a committee meeting.
The adulterous female neighbor and her husband stand side-by-side in front of the committee, which includes Boby, Bobby, Candace and two others.
"Infidelity rips from the very fabric that the Commons is created from," she says. "It divides us all."
She suggests that the husband chooses his wife's punishment. Bobby protests, saying this is "none of our business." Candace disagrees.The next day, Bobby is walking down the street and finds the neighbors throwing garbage at the disgraced wife ... who also happens to be wearing a pig mask.
"She broke a rule sweetie," a father explains to his young daughter.
Bobby is horrified. He takes the mask off the woman, trying to help. The wife that Bobby not interfere. He storms off.
TWO DAYS LATER. Bobby comes home to find Candace in his living room. She is concerned the couple has yet to conceive. Bobby is outraged.
"We truly want to help," Candace says. "I suggest you take a look at the residency agreement you both signed. We have every right to be concerned."
Bobby looks at the contract. Failure to conceive a child in six months it reads, will result in foreclosure of the house. The couple's credit will be ruined.
"They're trying to control us!" Bobby says.
TWO DAYS LATER, Bobby calls Scott. He wants out the contract. Scott agrees to look into it. The friend explains that the previous owner of Bobby's house has disappeared entirely.
"Either he's dead or he's pretending to be," Scott says. "Why would he do that? What the hell is going on over there?"
VALENTINES DAY. Tracy gives Bobby a gift. Its a positive pregnancy test!
"We did it!" Tracy says.
The couple is out for a drive when the adulterous wife runs screaming into the street. She is frantic, terrified, panicking. BANG! A car slams into her, sending the body flying. Bobby and Tracy avert their eyes. Bobby runs for a nearby police officer, claiming the woman was in terrible trouble before she died.
"No, she jumped in front of the car," the cop says rather matter of factly. "It was suicide. We all saw it."
Bobby and Tracy arrive home. They hear an odd noise and then notice a beeping red light on the ceiling. They're being watched! They run to Phil and Deborah. Bobby wants to know what happened to Phil's brother. What did the Community do? Are their families in danger? Deborah slams the door. All the while, Candace watches like Big Brother from above.
Later, Bobby calls Scott. He has an idea ... but he'll need Meryl.
The next day, Tracy is pale. She appears sick. While at lunch with Arlene, Tracy collapses. Arlene panics. What about the baby?! Bobby arrives and escorts his wife to the car. Hours pass. Bobby arrive home with Meryl. She pretends to be Tracy and curls up in bed. The camera can't tell the difference.
"We can't let them recognize you," Bobby says.
The next morning, Bobby and Meryl hide in the closet.
"Tracy and her parents should be reaching their cabin at any time," Bobby says.
Suddenly, Candace enters. The ruse is over.
"You made a tragic mistake, Bobby," Candace says.
Neighbors break into the room and drag Meryl away. Candace threatens Bobby. His family members may have an "accident." One of the men sticks Bobby with a syringe. The screen fades to black.
Back from break, Bobby wakes up coughing and groggy. Phil rushes in, drunk as ever. He removes scissors from his pocket.
"This is for you," Phil tells Bobby ... before stabbing Candace in the neck.
Blood spurts everywhere. Candace falls to the ground ... dead. Bobby runs through the woods, neighbors and dogs chasing him. We are back where we started. Bobby sees a light ... the headlights of a car. It pulls to a stop on the road ... and Tracy and Scott get out.
"Bobby, I love you so much," Tracy says. "I'm doing this for us."
"It's an amazing house, Bobby," Scott says. "We're going to be neighbors!"
Neighbors from the Community approach like zombies. They rush Bobby and stuff him into the backseat of the car. The car pulls back in through the wrought-iron gates. Bobby bangs against the back window.
YEARS LATER. Tracy and her young son introduce a new couple to the neighborhood. She is the new Candace. Bobby, watching from the upstairs window, sits in a wheelchair ... his legs cut off at the knees.
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