THOU SHALT NOT KILL... EXCEPT

Having come home after half of his squadron was killed during the Vietnam War, Sergeant Jack Stryker (portrayed by Brian Schulz), given an honorable discharge due to his injuries, attempts to get his life back together. Finding himself reunited with an old girlfriend, Sally (Cheryl Hausen) and his war buddies, he feels he may have successfully re-established his life. However, this happiness is quickly cut short when a murderous cult led by an enigmatic but unnamed Charles Manson-like figure (portrayed by director and writer Sam Raimi) comes into town to continue their rampage.

After Sally is tortured and Stryker and his compatriots find the cult torturing police officers near his house, they arm themselves up and decide to - as the trailer puts it - "break the laws of both God (the title is a reference to one of the Biblical Ten Commandments) and man" and fight back. What follows is a war between the two groups, ending in numerous deaths, including the cult leader's; the exchange between the cult leader and Stryker is as follows:

Cult leader: "I am Jesus Christ!"

Stryker: "No, you're not — you're dead."

Upon which Stryker shoots the cult leader in the chest, and he careens into a river, eventually being impaled on a motorcycle, and their brutal war is ended.

The Vietnam veterans engage in a violent showdown with the cult, culminating in Stryker killing the cult leader and ending the cult's reign of terror.

The film's climax pits war-hardened survivors against a homegrown threat, reinforcing its theme of violence following soldiers home. Stryker’s confrontation with the messianic cult leader is both literal and symbolic—a final rejection of false prophets and the trauma of war. The brutal resolution underlines the film’s grindhouse spirit: survival demands fighting fire with fire.