Hallowed Ground: Why You Should Watch ‘The Borderlands’

Welcome to The Queue — your every day distraction of curated video content material sourced from throughout the net. Right this moment, we’re watching a video essay that explores what makes The Borderlands certainly one of Britain’s most annoying discovered footage motion pictures.

We’re all grown ups right here. Let’s name it like it’s: there are many good discovered footage horror movies on the market. There’s the fashionable basic [REC], which stays one of the crucial genuinely terrifying movies on the market. 2022’s Deadstream proved that there’s nonetheless loads of gasoline within the sub-genre’s tank because of mediums like Twitch. Noroi: The Curse exists. There’s a lot extra to discovered footage than soar scares and inconceivable narrative framing units. Have been the copycats piggybacking on the success of 1999’s The Blair Witch Mission largely shit? Completely. However a part of being a horror fan is zipping in your hazmat go well with, wading into the swamps of Tubi, and looking for the diamonds within the tough.

Talking of which, let’s dive into the topic of as we speak’s video essay: 2013’s The Borderlands (launched stateside as Remaining Prayer). The directorial debut of writer-director Elliot Goldner, The Borderlands focuses on three males with sharply completely different spiritual stances: Father Mark is a fervent believer, Deacon is a skeptic wrestling together with his religion, and Gary is extra all in favour of computer systems (each trio wants somebody who “does machines,” okay?). The Vatican has despatched the trio to research a distant Thirteenth-century church the place some humorous paranormal shenanigans are afoot. Positive sufficient, these shenanigans push every males to make up their minds concerning the Powers That Be.

Because the video essay stresses, The Borderlands doesn’t reinvent both the discovered footage or the people horror wheels. However the movie’s cultivation of a creepy ordinariness makes it a noteworthy entry in genres liable to, uh, going off the rails. It additionally has a tense and noteworthy third-act rug pull, which I gained’t spoil right here, however is spoiled within the video (so beware!).

Want extra convincing? Have a peek on the video under:

Watch “Britain’s Most Disturbing Discovered Footage Movie”

Who made this?

This video on The Borderlands is by Ryan Hollinger, a Northern Irish video essayist who makes a speciality of horror movies. Hollinger’s evaluation often takes the form of a private retrospective. Indulging in a wholesome dose of nostalgia, Hollinger’s movies are contagiously endearing, entertaining, and informative. You may as well take a look at Hollinger’s podcast, The Carryout, on SoundCloud right here. And you’ll subscribe to Hollinger’s YouTube account right here.

Extra movies like this

Wish to see extra of Ryan Hollinger‘s work? Right here’s his video on the Nineteen Eighties nostalgia of the Canadian eldrich horror flic The Void.
Right here’s one other pattern of Hollinger’s work: a video on how the found-footage catastrophe image The Bay unpacks the horror of inaction throughout a public well being disaster. This video has floated into my thoughts about as soon as every week over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Which, given the movie’s parasitic subject material, is…applicable.
And right here’s yet one more video essay from Hollinger on what made Joe Johnston’s 2010 tackle The Wolfman so divisive.

Associated Matters: Discovered Footage, The Queue

Meg has been writing professionally about all issues film-related since 2016. She is a Senior Contributor at Movie College Rejects in addition to a Curator for One Excellent Shot. She has attended worldwide movie festivals equivalent to TIFF, Sizzling Docs, and the Nitrate Image Present as a member of the press. In her day job as an archivist and data supervisor, she repeatedly works with bodily media and is dedicated to making sure ongoing bodily media accessibility within the digital age. You’ll find extra of Meg’s work at Cinema Scope, Lifeless Central, and Nonfics. She has additionally appeared on a variety of film-related podcasts, together with All of the President’s Minutes, Zodiac: Chronicle, Cannes I Kick It?, and Junk Filter. Her work has been shared on NPR’s Pop Tradition Comfortable Hour, Enterprise Insider, and CherryPicks. Meg has a B.A. from the College of King’s Faculty and a Grasp of Data diploma from the College of Toronto.

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