A mysterious man hands himself into a police station in small town one night. It soon appears that he seems to know about the inner demons of everyone there, the cops and prisoners alike. All of these individuals have dark secrets it seems and the mystery man is the catalyst that brings them to the fore and drives them to further depravity and violence.
Let Us Prey is one of a small group of horror films set in Scotland. As it happens, two of its stars featured prominently in a couple of the other most notable Scottish set horrors of the last few years, namely Liam Cunningham who appeared in Dog Soldiers and Hanna Stanbridge so impressive as one of the main characters in The Outcast. In this one Cunningham has the central role of the mysterious demonic stranger, while Stanbridge gets to sink her teeth into a role of a female cop with a penchant for violence. She is not the only strong female character here though; Pollyanna McIntosh plays the other policewoman and is in fact the lead character to all intents and purposes. It is refreshing to have a genre picture give women more central roles; I have no idea why it doesn't happen more often. As it is McIntosh's cop is on her first night at this remote police station, the very night when things go horribly wrong. In this respect, the influence of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 is pretty obvious. In addition, the electronic soundtrack used here sounds very Carpenteresque too, which was also nice.
It's a pretty modest production but it makes the most of what it has. The cast all acquit themselves very well and make the most of their characters. The direction is pacey and nicely stylised in places. I particularly liked the opening credit sequence with images of giant waves and sinister ravens. It maybe could be argued that the film doesn't perhaps ultimately go into as interesting places as it promises it might and it does get a little generic towards the end. But it is still different enough to ensure it is interesting. It also has the distinction of having a central demonic villain who is not one dimensionally evil; he's just a guy with a job to do.
