Let Us Prey

A wee town is suddenly plagued by a mysterious outsider and people begin to die in rather horrible ways. Such runs the narrative of Let Us Prey, riffing not only on the familiar horror tropes of the insular, 'backward' rural community, but also a lineage in Scottish cinema, made most famous by Robin Hardy's deliriously fun cult film The Wicker Man.

Pollyanna Macintosh - last seen stealing scenes in Filth - stars as a new recruit to the local police force in the remote town of Inveree in the West Highlands. Her first act in the job is to lift a speeding joyrider who hits a mysterious bearded man (Liam Cunningham). But the bearded man disappears.

The narrative of the film runs through the evening, and once the bearded man is brought to the station strange and deadly things begin to happen. A tight script ensures that the action rattles by towards midnight; the bearded man's hour of reckoning.

Director Brian O'Malley and writers David Cairns and Fiona Watson do an excellent job of navigating the stereotype minefield of this type of horror film, with the hypocrisy and Calvinist repression of the rural community very much to the fore. There are plenty of funny lines, the earliest of which are delivered with characteristic brio by Jonathan Watson of Only An Excuse fame.

Credit must go to cinematographer Piers McGrail whose sumptuous visuals add to the tension and creeping sense of dread and bring to mind French slasher flick Switchblade Romance.

There's plenty gore to keep horror fiends satisfied, yet enough intrigue and chuckles to appeal to a wider audience too.