The Borderlands Blu Ray Review (Second Sight)

The Borderlands (aKa Final Prayer) is a 2013 found footage horror film written and directed by Elliot Goldner (American Monster, Paranormal Witness, Terror in the Woods, and Hometown Horror). Father Crellick (played by: Luke Neal from Krypton, Megan Leavey, Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, Gunpowder, and Halo: Nightfall) sunmons a small team of Vatican investigators which includes Deacon (played by: Gordon Kennedy from The Halcyon, Robin Hood, T2 Trainspotting, Tank 432, and Absolutely) and Gray (played by: Robin Hill from Meg 2, The ABCs of Death, and Kill List) arrive at a isolated church in hopes of demystifying the buildings unusual goings on. The supernatural elements keep getting worse for the crew. They discover what they have entered is more disturbing than they could ever imagine!!!! This is one of the better British and Found Footage horror films of recent years. I honestly wasn’t expecting much from it at all but it took me by surprise. The creepy and claustrophobic atmosphere really elevates this independent production. The script is a step above from what you usually get from this smaller sub-genre. The two leads have excellent chemistry and it’s something that drives this low budget feature. This one doesn’t focus on gore, it’s more about the thrills and suspense. It has that Urban Legend vibe to it, something that would haunt you from it’s reputation. The ending and finale definitely stay with you for The Borderlands. It’s a nice payoff and it’s worth the wait. I personally never heard of The Borderlands until this was announced, I don’t think it’s on too many people’s radar but it should be!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Second Sight! This 1080p (1.78:1) transfer looks better than expected especially for being a smaller independent film. The style of Found Footage can really be hit or miss when it comes to picture quality. It has an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track on the disc. All of the dialogue is crisp, the scares are elevated, and the music has a huge boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has a brand new and exclusive “Audio Commentary” with Robin Hill, Gordon Kennedy, Jennifer Handorf and Dan Martin. This is a fun track with the crew plus an actor from the movie. They provide some nice technical information and tell some stories. I don’t know much about The Borderlands so it was cool to learn more about the production here. Lots of the same stuff is repeated later on during some of the bonus interviews. It has the brand new and exclusive 30 minute “Dressed the Part”. It’s an interview with actors Robin Hill and Gordon Kennedy. They chat about their characters in this. They bring up their past work. They go over the Found Footage aspects. They talk about the shoot and their overall experiences on the production. They share some personal stories related to this movie. It has a brand new and exclusive 30 minute “Losing Faith”. It’s an interview with producer Jennifer Handorf. She chats about producing this horror movie. She goes over her work on it and process for it. She really focuses on the Found Footage sub-genre for a decent amount of this chat. She talks about working with the director, inspirations, locations and discusses the marketing which lead to the title being changed. It’s Final Prayer in the states but it’s known under this The Borderlands name almost everywhere else. It has a brand new and exclusive 16 minute “Monster Goo”. It’s an interview with special fx artist Dan Martin. He gets very detailed when it comes to the special fx for The Borderlands. He takes you through certain important scenes. He shares some stuff he wanted to do but budget issues stopped that from happening. It has an archival 30 minute “Behind the Scenes” featurette. It has interviews with Elliot Goldner, Robin Hill, Gordon Kennedy, and Jennifer Handorf. It’s nice to see the director here since he wasn’t involved in the other stuff here. This is interesting companion piece to all the other material. You basically get to know anything that you ever wanted to about this low budget feature between everything included. There’s a good amount of extras for this smaller horror film, Second Sight kills it once again. There’s also a limited edition version with top notch packaging. I’m personally covering the standard release here. It’s available everywhere in the U.K. including select U.S. spots, CHECK IT OUT!!!!