In 1905, Thomas Richardson travels to a remote Welsh island to rescue his sister, Jennifer, who has been kidnapped and held for ransom by a mysterious cult. Thomas is a former Christian missionary who has abandoned his faith after he was tortured for attempting to introduce Christianity to Peking during the Boxer Rebellion.
Posing as a convert, he arrives and encounters the leader, Malcolm Howe, who founded the cult with two other convicts, Frank and Quinn. They claim that the previously barren island was rendered fertile via blood sacrifice. Each member of the cult keeps a jar for regular bloodletting. Thomas also discovers teenagers Jeremy and Ffion – the children of Frank and Quinn, respectively – sneaking home after a tryst. He forces Jeremy to admit that Jennifer is being held for ransom as the cult does not have the resources to pay for the continuous animal sacrifices needed to maintain the island’s fertility.
Malcolm suspects that a spy has infiltrated the community and questions the newcomers. The same night, he parades Jennifer through the village, claiming she is a traitor and will be killed if her co-conspirator does not come forward. Thomas accesses a tunnel underneath Malcolm's house and encounters an old woman who chases him. He escapes to a beach cave covered in markings, indicating the presence of a deity on the island. Malcolm ventures underground and feeds his blood to an old woman, The Goddess, who is imprisoned in tree roots. His blood causes the vines surrounding her to bloom.
Ffion informs Jeremy that she is pregnant. They know that Quinn will not allow them to be together and so they decide to elope. Quinn goes into a rage and murders Ffion. Then Thomas and Malcolm's daughter, Andrea, are forced to watch as Quinn uses a ritual to murder Jeremy. Quinn then declares that Malcolm is a false prophet and demands that he prove himself by killing Thomas. Frank, enraged by the death of his son, attacks, allowing Thomas to escape. Frank is killed by a masked figure, the Grinder.
Thomas witnesses the Grinder force-feeding blood to the Goddess. Sneaking past the Grinder, he finds his sister strung up in a sack. As he releases her, he is knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself tethered to the grinding table by hooks embedded into his hands and legs. The Grinder cranks a lever and Thomas was slowly pulled into the grinder. His hand is mangled before he is able to escape and kill the Grinder.
Quinn reveals to Jennifer and Andrea that he is the one who imprisoned the Goddess after they realized her powers. He tells the women that he will repeatedly impregnate them and that their babies will be sacrificed to feed the Goddess. The Goddess begs Thomas to set her free – he grants her wish by immolating her.
As the village burns and the villagers flee to a boat, Thomas kills Quinn but not before sustaining several stab wounds. He frees Jennifer and Andrea but collapses, bidding them farewell, as they escape to the ship. His faith restored, Thomas is discovered by an injured Malcolm as his blood replenishes the land, the vegetation consuming him as his transformation into a living god begins.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Apostle_(film)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
