By Steve A. Wiggins
The 2013 folk horror found-footage movie Final Prayer (Elliot Goldner, 2013, released stateside as Borderlands) underscores the conflict of religions that fuels much of the genre. Even so, some of the choices on the Christian side of the formula are a bit unusual.
The Catholic Church, often in cases of canonization (or saint-making) investigates claims of miracles. Sometimes it investigates miracle claims on their own. That’s the premise here. Although set in England, Final Prayer is about a Catholic Church. The investigator Deacon (Gordon Kennedy) arrives to find his new colleague Gray Parker (Robin Hill), having already installed cameras in the cottage where they’re staying. Gray insists that they wear head-cameras throughout. It shortly becomes clear that a third investigator, Fr. Mark Amidon (Aidan McArdle) is also expected. Deacon is a religious brother—he’s basically a monk, but not associated with a monastery. Gray is a layman, only nominally Catholic, who took the job as a techie because it paid well. And when he arrives, it becomes clear that Mark, the priest, is in charge.
