Review – ‘The Borderlands’ (2013)

As an avid horror watcher, as I’m sure most of you can relate, you are constantly on the hunt for the next great film, the one that finally scares you more than the previous 20 you watched, the one that you can obsess over and tell your friend about. This usually brings you to “Top 10” lists which are scattered around the internet, and among the usual suspects such as ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘The Thing’, there is usually a few hidden gems that crop up on a lot of lists. ‘The Borderlands’ is one of those films.

The films follows two men, Gray (a “techie” in charge of the equipment needed to debunk the paranormal going’s on) and Deacon (a dry, grumpy older man, with a religious leaning). They are instructed by The Vatican to investigate a church in the British West Country that has been experiencing paranormal activity. The film is found-footage, but is at times quite cinematic, by having headcams on all of our main characters.

Going into this film, I had high hopes. Perhaps, too high. I had read numerous reviews on Reddit, praising the film on it’s ability to provide atmosphere and a creepy tone which does away with the jumpscares of ‘Paranormal Activity’ and replaces them with slow, burning scares. A candlestick falling over, a flash of white in the corner of your eye, a subtle change that only the eagle eyed viewers will catch. The film succeeds at this greatly, and considering this is Elliot Goldner’s debut film, it’s a fantastic setup and the film is dealt with in a professional and masterful way that you would expect from some of the greatest horror directors.

The first thing which stood out to me was the acting. For a small, independent film, the acting is pretty solid and believable, we really get to know these characters and their personalities and the mix of Gray’s charismatic sarcastic nature and Deacon’s miserable attitude yet grave seriousness of the situation is, at times, great to watch, especially in the more comedic scenes. The other characters are come into the film later and are less developed but do introduce some interesting challenges for our two heroes. What is really great to see is this small creepy village, complete with fog and chavs. The church is a great location and is isolated enough to be believable.

The majority of the film does a great job at building the tension, and when it moves into it’s third act, the film begins to unravel at a breakneck pace, reminiscent of ‘As Above So Below’ and ‘The Descent’ in it’s claustrophobic and relentless atmosphere. Although I found myself confused by the ending, and felt that it hadn’t been appropriately built up throughout the rest of the film to have enough impact on me, and instead I found myself confused instead of disturbed. I won’t spoil what happens but it comes so far out of left field that it is almost comical.

‘The Borderlands’, considering it is a debut film, is almost a masterclass in building tension without resorting to jumpscares, and creating believable characters in an unbelievable situation, but invalidates what came before by having a seemingly rushed and confused ending.

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