Let Us Prey (2014)

"Let Us Prey" is a weird low-budget movie, with a very strange and gore story. The town, for example, seems to have no dwellers. The location is basically the same, inside a precinct. Things happen and there is no outsider in the story. Liam Cunningham and Pollyanna McIntosh have good performances, but the conclusion does not make much sense. The reason why Rachel Heggie is in Six´s list is not clear. The black humor is the good part of this watchable film. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Aprisionados" ("Imprisoned")

Fmovies: This film would be worth seeing just for the opening - no words for a while just brilliant photography and electronic mood music but that's only the beginning. The high quality acting and attention keeping building of the story makes this film as acceptable in the mainstream cinema as it is in the horror genre.Unbelievable on this budget.How did they do it.The cast all give totally convincing performances and Liam Cunningham is just so in control.This film got an extended round of applause at the viewing which I attended and it richly deserved it though I cannot remember the last time I saw that at a cinema rather than at a theatre Odds on a sequel to this one.

Wow, I REALLY liked this film! I could tell Immediately that I liked the feel of it. The first several shots alone are to die for. Seriously, they were stunning and beautiful. I instantly liked the soundtrack, the cinematography, and the tone that the director set for the film. I could tell right away that this was my kind of movie. Even the lighting of the main street was exquisite and reminded me a LOT of the way Bava would light his sets with otherworldly blues and reds, setting the perfect tone for this Good vs. Evil 'Morality' tale. Nicely done...

I have always liked religiously themed Horror films. I really dig the Prophetic or Biblically based stuff (movies like 'THE PROPHECY' or 'THE SEVENTH SIGN', for example) Although this film isn't as overtly religious as those, it is based upon similar themes. What I felt made this movie particularly intriguing was that it didn't treat the Good vs. Evil theme in the usual way that a lot of these types of films do, but it added more dimension and complexity in portraying 'Evil' more from the angle of Retribution or Punishment, which is a little different.

This movie had PRECISELY just the right tone that I really like with Horror films. It was stylized, but with just the right balance to give it an entertaining 'Punch' and yet, not so much (or so stupidly self-conscious) as to overdo it and ruin it, as happens often in many of today's Horror films. I am not familiar with this director, but I REALLY loved his approach to the material. He kept a good, tense edge on the proceedings, but allowed himself nice touches of style here and there. There were a few really effective jump scares too.

Just one thing... And this is just MY personal preference. But, what the HELL is the point of showing extended scenes of people brutally beating on others. Why...? It's mindless with absolutely NO entertainment value. It's not creative or clever in any way. Are we supposed to 'Get Off' on it...? In my lowly and wretched opinion, it's just pure, stupid brutality. BUT... other than FFing through just a few of these pointless and repetitive scenes, I truly found the film overall to be done very well and the acting was quite good. Just for my taste, I felt the violence was a little too much. To me, the story and atmosphere were strong enough not to needlessly rub our faces in the extreme violence so much. I think that so much of it begins to detract from the true strength of the film, which is NOT 'Torture Porn', but a strong, atmospheric Morality tale.

If you like your Horror films with a slight fanciful touch or based on religious themes, or more basically in this case a kind of Good vs. Evil morality tale, and you like a director who adds a REALLY nice artistic tonal style to the story, then I think you might find this clever and well written Horror film quite entertaining...

Let Us Prey fmovies. Well developed characters, good casting, articulate script, well acted, well directed - particularly the flashbacks which are too often a weak point, and produced adequately if cost effectively, provide us with an unexpected gem, and one of the best in the genre in the past five years.

Little things matter. Loved the barbed wire work throughout. The director does not overindulge the characters or the actors. And conversely, he still retains sufficient bloodiness to invoke our primitive emotions and symbolism without trying to shock us with something new - the story is the story after all, and it's a character's journey. And he respects us along the way.

One of the things that struck me repeatedly, was the difference between the British and American acting schools, and just how much better suited the British technique is for presenting the internal moral conflict necessary for good horror. Thought still exists in such characters, where Americans favor the senselessness of the raw nerve. As if honest acting somehow prohibits rational moral conflict, and self reflection.

The director proves it's still possible to still produce a moral movie, a moral horror movie, in the western tradition of our pagan fairy tales and Christian horror tales. It's just not in possible to do in Hollywood, where our pagan and Christian morality is actively suppressed both by intent, and non-verbal consensus in the culture of the place.

Prey is how it is done. Without novelty of effects and gimmicks that can be put into trailers, it may be harder to sell to distributors and studios. But it's a nearly flawless addition to our visual libraries.

I hope we see a series of movies with the same character development, with the same basic effects, under the same narrative, hopefully by the same producers. They're profitable. We want them. We can't get enough of them.

So yes. More please.

And thank you.

An apparent victim of a hit and run, a mysterious stranger is held at a remote police station and starts to take over the emotional state of staff and inmates alike.

It's not a new premise, something which is being held against Brian O'Malley's film like it's a crime, but the execution, the technical guile, and atmospheric touches brought to the piece, mark this out as a horror film of some merit. Boosted by having the great Liam Cunningham in the lead role, it's a film that shocks and awes with each passing chapter. It revels in the bloody aspects that unfold, positioning the vile nature that some human's are prone to right at the forefront, and with bloody impact.

Piers McGrail's cinematography is superb, the bold and beautiful shine of the blues and golden browns mingle disconcertingly with the down and dirty feel of the police cells, the latter of which appropriately marry up with the characters on show. Steve Lynch's score is a treat, a real nerve bothering piece of work, gnawing away at the senses in the same way that Cunningham's character tugs away at the emotional conditions of his prey. It's a film of many pleasures for the so inclined, it does get away from itself a little at the end, asking a little too much of the viewer, but it doesn't kill the pic and this is very much a horror necklace worth wearing on a night out. 7/10

... I've decided this was quite good. I'm hovering between a 7 and 8.

At first my main thought was "Meh. So Judaeo-Christian-specific that this atheist cannot find a thing scary about it." However, even if it is within that tradition, it does some surprisingly daring and fresh things inside of it. This is a movie with ambitions, and it is stylish enough and solidly-acted enough to pull most of them off.

I particularly liked the performances by the two leads. Both roles could have easily led to lots and lots of scenery-chewing, but neither Cunningham nor McIntosh go this easy and tired route: they are both subtle, varied and positively aces, as is Douglas Russell as the feral Sgt. MacReady (his role does call for some scenery chewing, and he does it well).

I absolutely adored the ending. Kudos.