I admire Unearthed Films' dedication to extreme horror, but if they release many more movies as mediocre as Purgatory Road, my appreciation will quickly wane. It's not that the film doesn't have promise - the plot certainly has some interesting ideas and Marcus Koch's makeup effects are decent - but the execution is weak, writer/director Mark Savage taking an overly portentous approach that really isn't a good idea when the cast is so wooden.
The film opens with youngster Vincent (Michael Lebeau) disturbing a female thief in the process of snaffling his father's entire savings; in shock, all he can do is look on as the woman leaves the house with the cash. When his father discovers what has happened, he is so distraught that he takes a shotgun to his head - right in front of Vincent and his younger brother Michael (Jacob Craig Bullock).
Years later, Vincent (now played by Gary Cairns) and Michael (Luke Albright) operate a church on wheels, where they listen to confessions and collect donations. All sins are absolved, except for theft: still feeling guilty about having done nothing as a child, Vincent slaughters the light-fingered, chopping up their bodies and feeding them to his father, who is somehow still alive and living in the basement of their home.
Michael helps his brother in his sick undertaking, but wants to quit, having fallen for waitress Ruby (Sylvia Grace Crim). His relationship with Vincent becomes strained when psycho Mary Francis (Trista Robinson) enters the picture, wanting to assist Vincent in ridding the world of those who steal.
I'm guessing that, like much of Unearthed Films' output, the intention of Purgatory Road was to disturb with its realism, but the poor performances and dreary pace mean that the viewer never becomes invested enough in what is happening to actually care about the characters. Savage clearly wanted to make a serious horror, but I can't help but feel that his story of a murderous priest would have benefited from a far trashier style, with the emphasis on excess in every department.
