31 Days of Halloween 2015: Let Us Prey

2014, Brian O'Malley -- download

Another cheat. But maybe one I won't need, as Marmy has been getting us to watch some doubles to fill in.  Oh well, cannot get enough out of my queue and onto the screen. This screen; we already did the widescreen.

Now, how's that for weird. When we started watching Last Shift, the movie that started this whole season of horror, we immediately asked, "Is this an American remake of Let Us Prey?" that we had watched earlier in September. Both begin with a young woman starting her first shift at a local precinct in a small town, this one being in Scotland. And I started the draft of this writing with the title Last Shift, instead of the proper one.

But really, Let Us Prey begins with Liam Cunningham, the Onion Knight, crawling out of the ocean in a heavy overcoat and lots of premonition.

PC. Rachel Heggie is beginning her first shift, and is welcomed by Sgt. MacReady. And if by welcomed, you mean berated and screamed at, the you would be correct. Like Sgt Cohen, who welcomes Jessica in the other movie, MacReady is a pock marked asshole. It doesn't help that on her first night, Heggie is dragging in the local asshole who almost hit a stranger on the road, in a case of reckless driving. They toss him in the clink but actually cannot find the stranger, Liam, until he appears at their door acting all mysterious. And just about begs to be tossed in the clink himself, right next to the man who almost hit him.

For her first night, things get pretty intense, as the jail begins to fill up and Liam acts more and more creepy. For a stranger with few words, Liam seems very aware of the sins people are committing. And likes to tell them how very aware he is. This includes the town doctor and MacReady himself. And yet, he is completely fine with Heggie, who has flashbacks to having been abducted when she was a child. Obviously protecting people had an origin story for her. As the night progresses, it becomes very clear Liam is definitely here for some retribution, and not the earthly kind.

Liam Cunningham has the intensity to pull off being a rather biblical entity out for punishment, and the coat doesn't hurt at all. As the movie falls into a pattern Simon Pegg would be fond of, Heggie maintains her cool and picks up on the cues Liam is giving. In the end, as the world burns down around her, he gives a choice, once I was rather surprised she accepted.

This was a fun movie, if not overly complicated. Bad guys get punished, and not without just merits. For a small sleepy Scottish town, there is a lot of nasty evil going on.