The nature of fear 
Appearances
Featured Characters:
- Sheriff Kyle Williams (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Bywater Police Department (Final appearance)
- ⏴ Deputy Eric Fraser (Death)
- ⏴ Sheriff Jim Corley (Corpse, skeleton or other remains)
- ⏴ Val Mayerik
- Teri Elizabeth Richards (First appearance)
- ⏴ Michael Ploog (Death)
- ⏴ Peter Horn (Death)
- ⏴ Rene LaRoque (Death)
Antagonists:
- ⏴ Man-Thing/Mantokwe (Theodore Sallis) (Apparent death)
- ⏴ Schist Petroleum Company (Disbands)
- ⏴ Jake Schist (Apparent death)
- Steve Gerber (First appearance; dies)
- ⏴ Frederick Schist (Death)
- Rodney Thibadeaux (First appearance; dies)
- ⏴ Wayne Thibadeaux (Death)
Other Characters:
- Billy James (First appearance; dies)
- Sarah (First appearance)
- Cajun Pilot
- Michele (First appearance)
- Nurse
- School Boy
- Stan Lee (Photo) (Deceased)
Locations:
- Earth-58460
Plot
A swamp plant monster kills a teenager at Dark Waters - which is a Native American sacred land. Newcoming replacement sheriff Kyle Williams and deputy Fraser investigate several missing people cases that started when tycoon FW Schist bought ancient tribal lands from chieftain Ted Sallis, the first person missing; Schist claims that Sallis ran away with the money when their legal transaction ended. Schist also has trouble with local protests and with sabotages by mestizo scoundrel Rene Laroque, who lives in the swamp. Sheriff Williams hears local legends about the swamp's guardians spirit from conspiracy theorist photographer Mike Ploog and shaman Pete Horn.
Williams and Fraser find the previous sheriff's corpse, then medical examiner Val Mayerik recognises that the previous sheriff had ordered him to file several deaths as alligator attacks, against Mayerik's professional opinion.
While Williams and Fraser try to find Laroque, Schist hires local thug brothers Thibadeaux to find and kill Laroque - but the Thibadeauxes are instead killed by the swamp monster. Laroque finds and captures Williams, then explains his version: Sallis did not want to sell the lands, but Laroque helped Schist. Now, Laroque believes that the swamp spirit will keep on killing until Schist stops his oil drilling, which are a profanation of the swamp. The creature kills Fraser before he can rescue Williams, then Laroque escapes. Williams also obtains photos of the creature made by Ploog.
Williams and his romantic interest, schoolteacher Teri Richards, try to get information from Horn and Schist. Horn, seeing the uncontrolled situation, tries to appease the swamp spirit with prayers and sacrificing his life; the monster kills Horn, but does not leave.
Mayerik finds a bullet in the former sheriff's body and tries to reach Williams, but he has returned to the swamp. Mayerik instead tells Richards, who goes to the swamp to tell Williams. Ploog also returned to the swamp, hoping to get another monster sighting; but instead, he startles Schist, who was in the swamp trying to find Laroque. Schist accidentally kills Ploog. Then Richards finds Williams, who concludes Schist committed several murders and is now trying to frame Laroque.
They discover that Schist had murdered Sallis and buried him in the sacred land, the magic there making Sallis return as the vengeful monster. Richards tries to take Williams to Laroque's lair, while the monster follows them to Schist's drilling tower. They find Laroque trying to blow up the tower with explosives, and Schist aiming a gun at Laroque. Schist wounds Laroque, and then Williams to cover his track; but the monster appears and horribly murders Schist, filling him with oil. The monster then moves to Williams and Richards, but Laroque shouts to attract its attention, then detonates his bomb, sacrificing his life. The monster survives the explosion, but then returns to the sacred land, while Richards and Williams watch in awe.Cast
- Matthew Le Nevez as Sheriff Kyle Williams
- Rachael Taylor as Teri Elizabeth Richards
- Jack Thompson as Frederic Schist
- Rawiri Paratene as Pete Horn
- Alex O'Loughlin as Deputy Eric Fraser
- Steve Bastoni as Rene LaRoque
- Robert Mammone as Mike Ploog
- Pat Thompson as Jake Schist
- William Zappa as Steve Gerber
- John Batchelor as Wayne Thibadeaux
- Ian Bliss as Rodney Thibadeaux
- Brett Leonard as Val Mayerick
- Imogen Bailey as Sarah
- James Coyne as Billy James
- Cheryl Craig as Michele
- Gary Waddell as Cajun Pilot
- Xoqui Pesce as Nurse
- Conan Stevens as Man-Thing
- Shannon Leonard as School Boy