Purgatory Road Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

Purgatory Road Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 4, 2019

One of my sisters converted to Catholicism in preparation for a marriage when I was still a little boy, and my entire family journeyed to her confirmation ceremony, where she had to undergo a “ritual confession” with the Priest officiating the affair. She went into the confessional booth and appeared just a couple of minutes later, leading my often barb tongued mother to comment, “She couldn’t possibly have confessed everything she’s done in that amount of time.” Luckily, my sister didn’t encounter the priest or “confessional booth” that are part of Purgatory Road, a low budget horror offering that is long on mood, and which provides an ample amount of gore (for those who require such things), but which may ultimately tip over into Grand Guignol territory a bit too enthusiastically for its own good.

Purgatory Road deals with a “mobile” priest named Vincent (Gary Cairns) who travels the highways and byways of the rural countryside in a van equipped with a confessional. Vincent’s brother Michael (Jacob Craig Bullock) is along for the ride and to help, especially since Vincent doesn’t take kindly to confessions of thievery. That relates back to the film’s opening sequence, where it’s shown that Vincent as a young boy walked in on a woman stealing from Vincent’s father, but did nothing to stop the theft. It’s a rather odd little sequence, and one that informs a lot of the rest of the film, and I for one wish it had been handled a bit differently, since it has such psychological import but plays kind of weirdly (why doesn’t Vincent just scream for help, even if the thief has a knife, especially when his father shows up instantaneously anyway, which seems to assume he was close by).

At any rate a mysterious woman named Mary Francis (Trista Robinson) shows up one day, and it’s already been revealed that she shares a certain proclivity toward murder with Vincent. Purgatory Road has some provocative ideas, but it tips over into near camp on several occasions, probably most notably with regard to Mary Francis, and especially with some later plot developments that push the film into more traditional monster (as in disfigured beast, not sociopath) territory.

Purgatory Road Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Purgatory Road is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual and Unearthed Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb lists the Canon EOS C300 Mark II as having digitally captured the imagery, and while there's a rather "video-esque" quality to the presentation, it has to be admitted that director Mark Savage and cinematographer Andrew Giannetta bring considerable style to the proceedings, at least at times. There are a number of standout moments in the film from a purely presentational perspective, including both the introduction of Mary Francis as well as some of the confessional moments, all of which can be bathed in rather deep blue and purplish tones. In direct opposition to some of the more heavily graded sequences, other moments in the film are relatively desaturated, giving a kind of gritty, wintry feel to a lot of the outdoor material. Detail levels are very good to excellent throughout, and some of the practical effects dealing with corpses and the like are very well done.

Purgatory Road Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Purgatory Road features an enjoyable LPCM 2.0 track that gains a lot of its interest from the rather nice score by Glen Gabriel. The film's dialogue and intermittent sound effects are rendered cleanly and clearly as well, and there are occasional bursts of low end which can provide startle responses. Fidelity is fine throughout the presentation, and there are no issues of any kind to report.

Purgatory Road Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Mark Savage actually also features an uncredited Tom Parnell.


• "The Grisly Art of Marcus Koch and Cat Bernier Sowell" Featurette (1080p; 5:21) is an image gallery of some of the gory prosthetics and other special effects work in the film.


• "The Actors Speak" Featurette (1080p; 29:15) offers interviews with several members of the principal cast.


• "Tom Parnell: Beyond the Day Job" Featurette (1080p; 8:31) offers a somewhat humorous look at Parnell's acting debut.


• Purgatory Road Q & A (480p; 20:19)


• Trailers includes Purgatory Road (480i; 1:37) along with trailers for other Unearthed Films releases.

Purgatory Road Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Purgatory Road has some interesting aspects, but I personally wish the whole motivating factor behind the brothers' carnage had been a little more realistically handled. That said, a lot of this film plays like a "blood and guts" graphic novel, so a certain "cartoonish" aspect is probably to be expected. Performances are a little iffy at times, but there are some stylistic flourishes here that may appeal to some horror fans. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.