(Originally posted on
The Borderlands is a creepy little piece of cinematography out the United Kingdom from 2013. The alternate title it was released as was Last Prayer. I saw it a couple of years ago after it was recommended on a Lovecraft site or social media group (I don’t recall which.)
(Fair warning: this is technically a ‘found footage’ movie, but a pretty good one. If this sub-genre annoys you, this one is still worth your time.)
No, I don’t mean the unrelated video game. And before you correct me, yes, I know H.P. Lovecraft never wrote it. When I say “A Good Lovecraft Movie” I mean a movie with Lovecraftian elements or themes. The Borderlands definitely qualifies, although it’s not immediately apparent, but by the end of the movie you can’t escape those themes.
The premise starts simply enough. Three investigators from the Vatican travel to a small town in the British countryside where a priest has recorded what he thinks is a miracle in his old church. There’s a skeptical old priest named Deacon (with obvious unresolved issues with his faith,) a technician named Gray (strictly there for tech support and to film the proceedings,) and a somewhat obnoxious and overbearing older priest named Amidon (with past conflicts with Deacon.)
This trio investigates both the town and the church in question. Right from the start there’s something just off about the townspeople. Not hostile, per se, but standoffish and paranoid, even beyond the normal reticence of backward villagers. Everyone is defensive about the church. At one point the locals burn some livestock alive near where the trio is staying.
Meanwhile the church is displaying some odd behaviors, but nothing that proves or disproves the local priest’s claim. The priest eventually commits suicide after a low-key creepy scene. Investigating further, they discover that the church is incredibly ancient and the land is mentioned in several old, ominous legends.
The movie has some nice, unnerving scenes in it that reinforces the feeling that something here is not quite right. That—and the climax which I won’t spoil here—make this a movie Lovecraft would have approved of.
I’m unsure if the writers/producers meant the title to echo The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson (a writer followed by Lovecraft.) There are some eerie elements which overlap, so this might be a deliberate nod to that otherworldly book.
The movie isn’t perfect. It has a slow, deliberate pacing which might put off the less-dedicated watchers. Some plot elements are a bit contrived and the characters occasionally veer towards the clichéd. Trust me, however, unlike other ‘found footage’ movies, there’s a definite, horrifying pay-off.
Go dig up a copy and give it a chance.
