Facing police indifference and anti-punk hysteria after his two friends are brutally murdered, a Punk rock zine writer becomes the next target when he enters the dark world of neo-Nazi extremism to find the killers and end the bloodshed.

SYNOPSIS:

It’s 1978. The Punk rock revolution is halfway through its brief, fiery life cycle. In London, snarling, green mohawked punks attack the mainstream with distorted guitars, safety pin piercings and scornful, anarchic songs. In America, disaffected punks are mostly middle class kids staring down a dead-end future, looking for a way to keep their pulse beating… which is where we find Christopher X, the introspective but charismatic 18-year creator of a controversial punk/sub-cultural zine. He’s a man of few words—pensive—but the unquestioned leader of the Portland punk community. A local punk band’s surprise endorsement in rock’s most influential magazine brings euphoria. But the celebration is shattered when the band’s singer Jimmy is later found crucified to a brick wall. The tightly-knit punk community is devastated and fears more attacks. Their weird hair, bondage gear and nihilistic swagger doesn’t endear them to the cops, whose disgust for the punks is on full display when they show up to investigate. Sympathetic Detective Murphy attempts to make a connection with X and his best friend, musician Kurt Blank. They suspect he’s full of shit and immediately distrust him, especially in light of his surly partner Detective Savoie’s open disdain and lacklustre interest in the case. Savoie cites one of X’s radical essays (“Punks are ready to murder the popular culture. They want to kill it. Dead.”) to formulate his working theory: Jimmy’s murder was the result of this “punk rock crap.” But when a second punker is found brutally murdered in a ritualistic manner similar to Jimmy’s, the punks realize two things: they’re being hunted and the Portland PD couldn’t give a rat’s ass about two dead punks, leaving them on their own. But who’s the enemy? Amidst rising anti-punk hysteria, X and Kurt embrace the punk DIY ethic and organize a benefit concert to raise reward money to find the killers. When X is savagely attacked at the show by a group of neo-Nazi extremists, the enemy finally shows itself. The Aryan Nations Brotherhood is planning a race war to purify America and the lawless, anarchist punks are on the list of the unclean—along with minorities, Jews, the godless—to be exterminated. X learns there are white supremacist sympathizers on the police force then receives a brazen death threat which only further galvanizes his resolve to hunt down the killers and prevent more punks from dying. X and Kurt plunge into the dark world of neo-Nazi supremacism putting them on a collision course with Northman, a fierce Aryan warrior and a hulking psychopath who envisions a “cleansing” of the society’s filth—and who more defiled than the godless punks?—and decides to exterminate X, the punks’ leader, as a way to incite the Brotherhood’s holy war. But Northman’s gone rogue, frustrated with the group’s methodical planning. He kidnaps two punkers close to X. He takes his captives to a secluded trailer as bait for X and has them tortured by a savage skinhead named Bauer. After Northman leaves to deliver stomach-turning pictures of the two ravaged punks to the media, X and Kurt arrive with a few heavily armed neo-Nazi-hating biker accomplices. They rescue their blood-soaked friends and kill Bauer. When Northman returns, he is incensed to find his captives missing and Bauer dead. He issues X an ultimatum: deliver yourself up or he will slaughter more punks. X agrees to meet and sacrifice himself to save lives. Knowing now that Northman is a lone wolf, X contacts the Brotherhood, who is deeply displeased with Northman’s divergence from the true path. They send a hit squad to the meeting place. At the meeting, Northman is revealed to be in fact Detective Murphy who was able to manipulate the entire investigation from the inside. Just as Northman/Murphy shoots X point blank, the Brotherhood’s three-member hit squad bursts through the door. In the ensuing shoot-out, Murphy is wounded but takes out his three kinsmen. X—saved by a bullet proof vest—surprises Murphy by rising from the dead and killing him with his own gun.

RECIPE FOR HATE