OMM2024 - Night 3: The Borderlands (2013)

 Night 3 of the #OctoberMovieMarathon and we've hit gold!

The Borderlands (2013)

9/10

 

A group of investigators from the Vatican have been sent to a small town church to verify or debunk a recent video showing a "miracle" during a christening. (This movie is also known as "The Final Prayer")

I may be a sucker for found footage films, but this one was very very good. The camera angles were consistent and useful. No angles that felt tacky, very little shaky cams, and it was a good choice to use both headcams on our characters and static cams in the rooms. The setting was great, the people all felt extremely real. I feel like if this was released a few years ago, it could have fooled some people into thinking it was real. I do want to see if I can go to the church featured in this one... or maybe not 😅

Dare I say, this is a good movie to watch if you want try something in the found footage genre. I'd watch this one again gladly! This one gets my recommendation!

POSSIBLE SPOILERS UNDER THE POSTER 

 

 

POSSIBLE SPOILERS HERE 

 

I really enjoy seeing movies from other countries, it's so cool to see the different cultures on display- especially in something like movies. Visual shorthand can be so specific and seeing how people/places/ideas are signified for a story is just so fascinating to me.

There were a few moments in the film that were very very quiet, and the captions on the version I watched sometimes included lines that I did not hear but the characters reacted to it. I think that's really my only big critique, and the reason it's not getting a perfect score. I also wish there was a little more haunting/spookiness before the climax, though I do feel like this movie is plenty creepy enough.

My goodness I was scanning the rooms every scene! I was so drawn into this one- especially the characters. It was refreshing to have the tech guy be the one who is excited about the miracle being real, and the church men being certain it's not real. I also enjoyed that of the 2 skeptic characters, one was sure it was faked but still seemed excited to investigate everything. I've always wondered why someone convinced it's all fake would spend hours in a dark house on a ghost hunt, spite can only take you so far before you start becoming an unpleasant person to be around. But Deacon (our skeptic) seems to be genuinely excited to see what's happening and reveal the truth- for better or for worse.

That's the other great thing about this movie, the characters! We don't get an in-depth character drama or anything, but their conflicts and hesitations seemed so solid. Even Mark (the jerk) seems like the boss who's just too stuck in protocol and not just a mean character to drive drama. The guys are all pretty simple characters, but they have just enough to them to make me feel like they are three-dimensional.

I don't want to spoil anything about this movie, cause the ending is good. Perhaps a bit... abrupt? But it left me just sitting on my couch watching the credits- frozen and trying to figure out what I just witnessed- in the best way possible. I also feel like if I watched it again, I'd pick up on some more foreshadowing and maybe even catch a few more things in the camera views.

Very glad to have been able to watch such a good film today. I think my movie list is a bit more hit and miss this year- but I'm glad that there's some good ones in there.