Best know for its proto-LEFT BEHIND tetralogy beginning with A THIEF IN THE NIGHT, Mark IV Productions was actually responsible for a wide variety of Evangelical-themed films spanning myriad genres and demographics. Sticking closer to home than they would on future outings like the endearing small-town parable WHITCOMB'S WAR, the outfit's BLOOD ON THE MOUNTAIN remains fairly close to the earnest demeanor of its first films while unfortunately drawing a blank in terms of story or interest.
Just released from prison, earnest Jim (Stracker Edwards) is ready to get on with his life and patch things up with his girlfriend, who unsurprisingly left him after his arrest for robbery several years ago. A Christian now (natch), she welcomes him back with open arms, extolling the virtues of forgiveness and eager to give him a chance to make things right. Her compassion is aided by Jim not being entirely to blame for how things went down – one of his compatriots' noxious influence is what drew him to participate in the robbery, and he was really just a good man led astray.
Of course, a well-timed breakout sees these accomplices busting out of prison not long after Jim's been released, and they quickly hijack some poor church kid's van as they set about tracking down Jim to seek revenge. Of the two, the ringleader is a nasty CPA- looking guy with glasses and a shaggy haircut, while his partner is a sensitive black man, who, like Jim, has just lost his way.
The two sides inevitably meet up, with the criminals taking Jim and his girlfriend hostage just as they've begun to patch things up and she's begun to introduce him to the Lord. Climax finds the quartet suspended in a cable car over Canyon City, CO's, Royal Gorge, where all sides are forced to reckon with their sins and the possibility of redemption.
While decently (if thinly) plotted, the main failing of BLOOD ON THE MOUNTAIN is that there's just not enough of any one element to sustain interest. While both Jim and his girlfriend have a likable enough screen presence, neither character is particularly well- drawn, and as a result both remain ciphers – more mouthpieces for philosophy than real flesh-and-blood human beings. While the film weirdly trumpets its Colorado location shooting – which does indeed give it some scenic color, as well as showcasing parts of middle America that rarely receive cinematic attention – its use of same falls unfortunately flat, particularly in the conclusion, which is clearly hampered by an inability to do any actual stunts in the cable car outside running it like normal. Basically, the characters climb in the car, ride out halfway, have an argument, and the car comes back – hardly a thrilling use of this suspenseful set-up. Really, nothing happens at the Gorge Bridge that couldn't have taken place back in the van, so the end of the film feels like a bit of a cop-out, with the filmmakers able to secure a neat location but unsure of what to do with it.
As a result, BLOOD ON THE MOUNTAIN is a fairly minor entry in the Mark IV canon – far from influential on the order of THIEF, though in no way the kind of maudlin disaster that would be embodied by latter-day productions like HOME SAFE. It's just a generic film catered to the evangelical circuit, well produced (and surprisingly well shot), but ultimately doing little more than providing a sermon for the choir.
