Omaha Film Festival 2009

Clear Lake, WI In 1993, some residents of the small town of Clear Lake fell victim to a strange and horrible disease. As fear spread through the town, a local preacher called the outbreak a supernatural punishment for the sins of the people and promised a way to stop the spread of disease. As loved ones, especially children, continued to get sick and die, the preacher's fiery sermons found an unlikely audience: a group of 7 high school students, who helped the preacher kidnap and kill some of the town's people...people who the preacher called sinners. By the time the government health officials arrived to investigate the outbreak, 13 people had gone missing and most of the townspeople had fled or locked themselves in their homes. Unable to find the cause of the disease, the government evacuated and quarantined the town. Not soon after, as bodies were found, the preacher was arrested for the murders. The students, all juveniles at the time, testified against the preacher in exchange for immunity from prosecution, then went their separate ways.The film 'Clear Lake, WI' takes place 15 years later, when documentary filmmaker tracked down the 4 surviving students. She convinces them to return to Clear Lake to help her tell the sensational story of the cursed town and of young people led to do evil in the name of what they thought was a greater good. But when they return to the empty town, strange things begin to happen. The documentary filmmaker disappears, and the rest of them realize they must deal with the ghosts of the past, and that maybe one of them may still be under the preacher's spell.