However, it seems that an ass kicking priest is fairly common stuff. There's Preacher, there are quite a few in Japanese Anime and more in comics. However, the character of Christopher in AWAKEN THE DEAD was developed without having seen those characters. There are also video games with elements that are similar.
The filmmakers wanted a character filled with guilt...The Catholic church leapt to mind. Hence the priest. The dark past was spy inspired. EL MARIACHI, Sergio Leone and THE CROW were also heavy influences. There are also literary forerunners in novels such as BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE and so on. Taratino routinely draws from influences from things he's seen from 70's chop socky films to Takashi Miike films and so on.
At some point the characters write themselves in any viable screenplay anyway.
Now that I reread my post, it almost sounded like I was accusing Awaken the Dead of blatant plagiarism. Not my intent, of course. I just meant to point out the similarities. If anything, if you dug the priest in ATD, you should really read Preacher. :-)
The real trick to life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery. -Fred Alan Wolf