A paparazzo and his estranged journalist girlfriend switch memories while uncovering an alien invasion plot.

SYNOPSIS:

When BARRY was six years old, he was abducted by aliens. He doesn’t remember this traumatic experience. As an adult, he is the best paparazzo in the business, using elaborate costumes to get celebrity pictures.

When Barry witnesses a man getting vaporized by a ray gun, no one believes him. Not the local police, who believe the charred corpse has been abandoned for weeks, nor the federal agents, led by AGENT KROMWELL who try to cover it up. Barry sells his picture of the charred corpse to a newspaper, which put him in Kromwell’s crosshairs.

Meanwhile, Barry’s journalist ex-girlfriend NIKKI decides to interview Barry about what he saw. This is in spite of a restraining order for when Barry was accused of stalking her after their break-up. Kromwell’s men capture both exes. Barry and Nikki are attached to a machine that can read their minds. Kromwell is a disguised alien who wants to know what happened to a fuel source for their now-buried ship. He thinks Barry might remember the night he was abducted. He does not.

Barry and Nikki are rescued by conspiracy theorist EDDIE SCHULTZ who publishes a newspaper called ‘The Tattler’, specializing in strange phenomenon. When Kromwell sees that Eddie possesses alien technology, he concludes that Eddie is “Blimthar”, the alien that freed all the abducted children (including Barry), and stole their fuel source, when Barry was six.

Eddie explains to Barry that disguised aliens have been infiltrating our world for the past twenty years, being involved with reality TV, politics, celebrity gossip and other things that can lower a human’s IQ. They are doing this because they have a device that can control the human mind, but only if their brain activity is low. Barry learns that a very popular reality show star named ANGELO TUCCIO is actually an alien prince.

The time Barry and Nikki spent attached to Kromwell’s mind-reading device has resulted in them switching memories. They have a series of dreams and flashbacks that help them understand one another in a way they never could before. Because Nikki didn’t actually experience the trauma, she “remembers” the abduction that Barry blocked out of his mind. Kromwell knows that Nikki’s brain holds the memories that he wants and sends his men after her.

Admiring Eddie’s passion for the truth, Barry joins him, using his paparazzi skill to get the dirt on Angelo, and rescue Nikki from certain death. Kromwell finds out where The Tattler offices are. He reacquires the stolen fuel source and vaporizes Eddie/Blimthar with his ray gun.

The aliens are now able to lift their buried ship out of the ground and call for an invasion. Barry gathers together Eddie’s close friends, an odd collection of freaks he had written articles about over the years, and vows to keep The Tattler website going. They don’t stop the alien invasion, but they keep exposing the truth after the aliens take over the planet.

Nikki admires Barry’s newfound ambition (something she worried about him not having before) and joins The Tattler herself. They don’t end up back together, but they understand each other better and can forgive.

THE TATTLER