Name: Let Us Prey (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb
Genres: Horror Countries of Origin: Scotland, Ireland.
Cast: Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) as Six, Pollyanna McIntosh (Tales of Halloween) as PC Rachel Heggie, Bryan Larkin as PC Jack Warnock, Hanna Stanbridge as PC Jennifer Mundie, Douglas Russell as Sergeant MacReady, Brian Vernel as Caesar, Jonathan as Ralph Beswick, Niall Greig Fulton as Dr Hume.
Directed by: Brian O'Malley. Written by: David Cairns.
The Three Acts:
The initial tableaux: The movie starts in Scotland on the coast of the ocean near the small city of Inveree. A man walks among the rocks and modest cliffs around sundown; the waves are crashing against the rocks and the land. Groups of crows are in flight. The music is techno and overbearing; the visuals were impressive until we had the lens flare dumped on us. The man seems grim and dodgy as he lights his cigarette in the wind, and looks below him at the city lit against the dying light.
Within Inveree, night shift police officers ready themselves for the evening, one wakening at 19 hundred hours. The crows are on the roof tops.
Delineation of conflicts: Six has a purpose, and he sets off events within the city. As Rachel makes her first walk to the station, Caesar speeds past her and apparently slams into Six. His body is not found, though, just residual fresh blood. Rachel and Sgt MacReady process Caesar, then incarcerate him in a cell next to the more than suspected wife beater Ralph Beswick. MacReady introduces Rachel over the radio to officers Warnock and Mundie, who have recently finished coitus on duty. Sigh. Mundie hints on the call that Rachel has had trouble of her own before being exiled to Inveree. Mundie and Warnock find and bring in Six, who is a bit worse for the auto encounter. They summon Dr Hume.
By this juncture, the cast and fundamental relationships are established, so it seems time for the flashbacks to begin. Most of the film's driving conflicts are about the internal struggles depicted in these reveries/flashbacks. Dr Hume has a bloody dark secret that sets him off to kill Six, but he is restrained. Each character has some secret that Six somehow brings to the surface.
Resolution: Six seems intent on sanctioning each of the guilty. Who will be left?
One line summary: A quiet night in a sleepy town turns bumpy.
Statistics:
a. Cinematography: 8/10 Except for the lens flare, quite good.
b. Sound: 5/10 Perhaps the techno background tracks appeal more to European audiences. I find them irritating, and I find myself watching the subtitles with my headphones off.
c. Acting: 7/10 The film has the feel of a play, with a small cast that operates mostly in a low number of sets. Perhaps this was not Oscar material, but it was much better than I expected. Liam Cunningham, Pollyanna McIntosh, and Douglas Russell were especially good.
d. Screenplay: 6/10 As elimination derbies go, this was rather good.
Final rating: 6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment