Python

An NSA surveillance plane crashes near Ruby, releasing its cargo: a massive reticulated python. The creature survives the wreck, escapes containment, and immediately begins stalking the countryside. The immediate danger is established as the townspeople tremble.

The escaped python attacks Lisa Johnson and Roberta Keeler while they are camping in the woods, introducing the immediate mortal threat. The attack signals the start of the creature's rampage and the start of a manhunt. Their survival is unlikely.

The next day at a swimming hole, John Cooper, his girlfriend Kristin, his best friend Tommy, and Tommy's girlfriend Theresa discover Lady G, Lisa's pet Burmese python they recognize as belonging to Lisa. Deputy Greg Larston arrives, mentions Lisa is missing, and takes Lady G into custody. The connection between Lisa's disappearance and the escaped python is established.

Lisa's body is discovered with severe acid burns. The police suspect John, who works at a plating plant that handles corrosive acids, linking the murders to his employer. The investigation tightens around him as tensions rise.

NSA Special Agent Bart Parker meets scientist Anton Rudolph while preparing to recapture the creature. Anton reveals the python is a genetically engineered hybrid built from several snakes, and explains its acid-expelling defense. He warns Parker that the operation will be dangerous and that his team likely won't prevail.

The python continues its killing spree, taking real estate agent Kenny Summers and his client Francesca Garibaldi. News of the murders deepens the panic in Ruby and complicates the investigation. The creature's lethality is underscored.

John finds the crime scenes and police recover the bodies of Francesca and Roberta in the garage, prompting Sheriff Wade to shut down the plating plant. The community grows angrier, and suspicion falls more firmly on John until external help arrives. The shutdown signals a turning point in the investigation.

When Kenny's body is found with the same acid burns, Sheriff Wade orders John arrested. The NSA team arrives with Anton as their guide and offers Wade a cover story of a rogue operative, which Wade reluctantly accepts. John is released in the process, and he plans a vacation with Kristin, Tommy, and Theresa.

The NSA team coordinates with local police to locate the python using radar. They believe they've trapped the creature when it appears to be sleeping, but the snake uses shed skin as a decoy and opens fire, killing the entire NSA team, including Parker; Anton is the sole survivor.

The next morning the python attacks Theresa and kills Tommy at their home. Theresa escapes in her car but the snake follows and traps her, forcing her to hide in a crevice. John and Kristin decide to pursue, and they race to the water treatment center.

John and Kristin regroup with Greg, outlining a plan to lure the python into the water treatment center. They chase the snake through a shaft, set a bomb at the entrance, and John escapes through a hatch too small for the snake. Anton rushes back inside to reset the device, sacrificing himself by detonating manually to try to kill the creature.

The group constructs a new plan: lure the python into a vat of acid at the plating plant and push its underbelly into the acid. The reptile is forced into the vat and dies from the corrosive attack, ending the threat.

The plating plant has reopened as a bar and bike shop, marketing the python's death as a sales tool. Greg has become an FBI candidate at Quantico, signaling a brighter future for him and the town. John and Kristin announce that they are expecting their first child.