Judgement Day
Liam Cunningham rains retribution on a psycho- filled precinct
Geting to shoot in Roger
Corman’s old Irish studio Spiddal was a real treat for first- time director Brian O’Malley, even if they did almost burn it down. “About 80% of the inferno you see onscreen was real,” he explains of the climactic scenes. “It was intensely terrifying, but gave a much better result.”
Let Us Prey is a brooding gothic horror with the sensibilities of a classic Western that pits Pollyanna McIntosh’s Rachel against an antagonistic collection of cops and criminals. Set in a rural Scottish town, the imposing Six ( Game Of Thrones’ Liam Cunningham) is locked up in the cells of a police station where Rachel is spending a rough first night in her new job. As well as facing a hostile boss ( Douglas Russell) and some bitchy co- workers, she begins to suspect that there is judgement operating above the law; something far more powerful than she can initially comprehend.
A modern hybrid of Twilight Zone- style morality tale and supernatural siege movie, Let Us Prey aims to create the aesthetic of an old- school favourite. “We shot on ’ 80s anamorphic lenses to create the texture you might find in a classic Carpenter feature,” O’Malley explains. “We want the film to be somewhat timeless. To further accentuate this, there is also a mixture of costumes and technology that blurs the exact date in which the film is set.”
Cunningham was particularly excited to be facing off against McIntosh, “There aren’t too many strong female leads apart from Ripley in Alien,” he said. McIntosh, meanwhile, relishes her new role as an action hero: “Who doesn’t want to put on a cop uniform and kick ass?”
Let Us Prey opens on 24 April.