There's something in the water, and it's turning Ithacans into confused, drooling, flesh-craving grunters.

Luckily, the scores of stumbling undead are actors, and the frightening hydrofracturing fluid contamination that turns them into zombies is simply the premise of a short movie produced by a group of local filmmakers.

But the fun flick belies a serious message about the potential dangers of hydraulic horizontal gas drilling and is just one example of how the issue has inspired artists to become activists.

Attendees of last month's gas drilling hearing at the State Theatre were treated to a short performance by the Green Guerillas, a group of local youngsters who give theatrical presentations and create multimedia projects exploring issues of sustainability, inequality and social justice.

Others have turned to song to tell stories of people who have been preyed upon by landmen, and the citizens' group Shaleshock is hoping music can raise money as well as awareness by organizing a benefit concert at the State Theatre on Saturday with performances by Donna the Buffalo, The Sim Redmond Band and The Horse Flies.

Shira Golding said she hopes her movie "Frac Attack: Dawn of the Watershed" will engage people who may not have otherwise cared.

"History shows that whenever there are social justice issues, it takes a combination of strategies to make change. Art may not be the most important of those, but it's definitely a tool to capture the hearts and minds," she said.

Filmed over two weekends in October, the 18-minute film features a young woman trying to save her partner after he drinks water contaminated by hydrofracturing fluid and becomes a zombie. She discovers nearly the whole town has turned into zombies and flees to Ithaca Commons, where she finds refuge at the Worker's Center above Autumn Leaves bookstore. Joining other members of an environmental group that had gathered there, she helps lure the zombies to a contaminate-free waterfall, which cleanses them of their affliction.

It will premiere at Cinemapolis Dec. 10 and will then stream online for free at www.fracattackthemovie.com.

A joint effort between her production company, Shirari Industries, and the Dacha Project, the movie was devised during a class in do-it-yourself filmmaking that Golding led last spring for the Ithaca Freeskool.

It is also a community collaboration, Golding said, with nearly 70 people of all ages participating, from makeup and food preparation to zombies. Not all were activists when they started, but many are now.

Ithaca songwriter Lisa Ann Wright said she became similarly committed to the cause after penning "Don't Go Frackin' Round in My Backyard" more than a year ago.

The state attorney general's office was holding forums at that time to alert farmers and other owners of large tracts of land that they might be contacted by people interested in leasing their mineral rights.

Wright said she thought it was something that "cried out for a folk song" and, inspired by a meeting with a dairy farmer who boasted that he had chased the landmen away, she wrote it from the perspective of a landowner who wasn't as stupid as the gas companies assumed. A version sung by Joe Crookston posted on her Web site has become popular among fellow activists.

Similarly, a performance by Ithacan Will Fudeman has been making the rounds on video site YouTube and has already received more than 700 views.

Fudeman said he saw the gas drilling solicitations as "almost a classic Faustian tale of being lured to sell your soul to the devil," and set his tale of corporate greed to the bouncy melodies of an old Glenn Miller Orchestra tune, "Chattanooga Choo Choo," in an attempt to hearken back to a more innocent time.

"Nobody can heat their house reciting a poem. Hot air comes from somewhere, under yonder hill there," he sings in the video, which juxtaposes living room performance footage with images of active industrial mines.

Fudeman said he wanted to find a way to share information but to do so lightly.

"When people laugh, it can empower them," he said.

Wright said she hopes the art will transform into action.

"It will be really good to have the awareness that the arts and media bring, but these gas companies are going to start playing hard ball and we need more than just awareness. We need to have strategies. We need people at every level, politicians, academics, influential leaders," she said.