Final Prayer

Last year a film was released named 'In Fear', which managed to make the premise of two people getting lost in a maze of country roads as night draws in surprisingly creepy and gripping, before the final act gave way to a more pedestrian nature and the film lost its footing. 'The Borderlands', a British entry into the canon of handy-cam/found footage horror, manages to work it the other way round. Not to say the first hour or so is pedestrian as such, but going by the premise, no doubt many people will think they have seen it all before and skip this film. They would be partly right, although to the film's credit, it manages to tread that old ground with a good enough script and performances to not seem tired.

Deacon, Gray and Mark are Vatican sanctioned, paranormal investigators who arrive in a small, west country town to look into a claim of miracles at a local, old church. Things take a darker turn as their investigation leads them to increasingly unrealistic scientific explanations for the claim. The characters are very real and their relationship is not weighed down by forced efforts to be unnecessarily scary. Indeed, there is an occasional moment of brevity and humour between them, which nicely offsets the apparently tedious nature of their job; one could draw a comparison with the first act of Neil Marshall's 'The Descent', coincidentally another well regarded British horror. Another intelligent point arises in the form of the characters' set of beliefs; refreshingly, it is the agnostic technical supervisor who is most inclined to believe the extraordinary explanation, whilst the believers are the ones jaded by the claims so often proved false. It must also be said that where in other, similar fare, the explanation of the use of home video cameras and the like seems forced and a little intrusive, here it makes perfect sense and you do actually forget that is what you are watching.

Then we hit the last 20 minutes! Some earlier chatter about belief proves to not just be screenplay-filling fodder, but real groundwork that actually comes back to bite hard in claustrophobic scenes. This final act's power to disturb is akin to the final moments of 'The Blair Witch Project', 'Rosemary's Baby', or perhaps more pertinently 'The Wicker Man', to which the smart screenplay has actually made humorous and perhaps not purely incidental reference. In these cases, the horrible reality of the story is made truly tangible in such a way as to cause a palpable discomfort within the gut of the audience; it creates a creeping unease that is hard to express in words. So it is the case with 'The Borderlands', although how unnerved you are is not completely clear until after the film, when the imagery of the idea being brought to its fruition cements in your mind's eye, and as with Edward Woodward's final, defiant yelling, or Mia Farrow's famous last lines, a character's dreadful cries become horribly haunting in a way that is tough to shake off simply by saying, "It's only a movie'.

'The Borderlands' is not overcooked and has much about it that will probably be admired by fans of writer/director Ben Wheatley, who is maybe most noted right now for 'Kill List'. Overall, not one we might call a great horror film, but without doubt, within the film are moments of great horror!

A superior found footage horror movie that is heavy on atmosphere rather than scares, and is all the more unsettling for it. A team of Vatican investigators is sent to the British countryside following reports of paranormal activity at a remote church. They encounter hostile locals who set fire to sheep as events start to take a darker turn, and they discover far too late that something much more sinister and ancient has been awakened.

The Borderlands is one of the better found-footage films that has come out of late, and is one of the best British horror films to come out in a seriously long time.

Initially a little unconvincing, and with a slightly irritating character played by Robin Hill, it may take a short while to settle into. But as events unfold and things get darker, I guarantee you will be glued to the screen, as creepy and sinister becomes terrifying and horrific. The acting is great, the tension never falters, and the ending is one of the nastiest to feature in a horror film in years. A good film.

Churches are said to be among the most haunted places on earth. There's something about the most holiest of edifices that is said to house the supernatural more than any other. "The Borderlands" is a take on this phenomenon in documentary-like footage. Paranormal investigators are sent to a rural church where an unexplainable incident occurred which was caught on camera. At first not much occurs with some of the group wanting to pack it in and leave. But shortly after events transpire to alter their perceptions leading to a downward spiral that sends everyone and everything crashing down into one infernal and bloody hell. The film keeps the frights raw and spare heightening the sense of realism with moving objects, disappearing apparitions, loud crashes, unholy sounds and eerie silences that permeate the sense of dread and fear. Credit to the actors with their flawless natural acting as they show how man is when faced with the unknown and highlighting the shallow and unpleasant nature of human interaction in the present. As with these kinds of film's the pace is slow-going made worse with a disappointing ending. While no classic "The Borderlands" is a good watch to get some of those thrills and chills up and going on cold rainy nights.

A low budget British gem that delivers. Don't let the found- footage sub-genre put you off as this isn't your typical-shaky-cam film.

I love the way the friendship develops between the two leads. Deacon, the cynic is having doubts about his faith and spends half the film finding solace in the bottom of a wine bottle. Grey, the cheeky-geezerish bloke who you take an instant like to, though not a believer per se, Grey can't entirely discount the possibility of a more cosmic force guiding our lives in unseen ways. Together they uncover a sinister truth more horrifying than either of them could have imagined.

The film has ambition that transcends its meager budgetary constraints. There are some terrifically unsettling set-pieces

It uses gore sparingly, focusing more on claustrophobic chills and general edit room trickery to build up a picture of a world on the verge of ripping itself apart.

The ending will probably stay with you for some time. I still feel uneasy just thinking about it.

Enjoy!