Nick Stahl Plays a Rogue Archangel on Trial in 'One Night In Purgatory'

Nick Stahl will stand trial against God and the Devil in "One Night In Purgatory," a supernatural horror debut from writer-director Robert Husted that recently wrapped production in Calgary.

The cast pairs Stahl ("Sin City") with Alejandro Edda ("Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!"), Grace Dove ("The Revenant") and Michelle Mylett ("Letterkenny"). The premise, per the official synopsis, is pleasingly blunt: the film "follows a rogue archangel (Stahl) who has just one night on Earth to convince a guilt-ridden lawyer (Edda) searching for redemption in a punk rock dive bar to represent him at a trial against God and the Devil if they can survive the night."

An archangel walks into a grungy dive bar. That's the pitch, and it holds.

Who made it, and who's behind the camera?

"One Night In Purgatory" is Husted's first feature as writer-director. He set out his stall in a press release, calling the movie "a throwback to the days of gruesome practical effects and stories that blurred the lines of who's good and who's evil." Practical effects (physical makeup and prosthetics rather than digital ones, in other words) remain a selling point for horror audiences tired of weightless CGI.

Electronica pioneers Tangerine Dream scored the film — a booking that signals ambition beyond the usual genre-budget norm, roughly equivalent to landing a veteran cinematographer on a first-timer's short.

The producer roster runs five deep:

• Chris Lorusso
• Mike Hatton, under his Ton of Hats banner
• Stuart Davis
• Kyle Cooper and James Hausler of Beauregard Pictures

Edda and Stahl serve as executive producers alongside Michael Walker and Jason Wan-Lim of Polyscope Pictures. The leads, in other words, have skin in the game.

What do we know about the release?

No distributor, release date or festival plan has been announced. Production has wrapped; everything downstream — sales, premiere, platform — remains open.

Who represents whom?

The dealmakers, as listed:

• Edda: Michael Greene Artists Agency and attorney Stuart Downey
• Stahl: LINK Entertainment, Artium Talent and attorney Blake Zurbachen
• Dove: CESD Talent Agency, Principals Talent, Zero Gravity Management and Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light
• Mylett: LINK Entertainment and The Arthur Agency
• Tangerine Dream: World Entertainment Associates of America

Dove's turn in "The Revenant" and Mylett's long run on "Letterkenny" give the ensemble recognizable anchors on either side of the genre divide, while Edda brings indie credentials and Stahl a cult pedigree stretching back to "Sin City" and "Carnivàle"-era television work.

With Tangerine Dream on score and a theological courtroom at its center, "One Night In Purgatory" now enters the sales and festival circuit, where its survival odds will be decided by buyers rather than by heaven or hell.