20 Horror Movies That Weren't What Anyone Expected

5. The Borderlands

Borderlands Final Prayer
Metrodome Distribution

You couldn't really be blamed for having tempered expectations for The Borderlands - or Final Prayer as it's known internationally - given that it's a low-budget exorcism-themed found footage film which released in 2013, a point at which both of these subgenres were wildly oversaturated.

But Elliot Goldner's film has a number of pleasant surprises up its sleeve - for one lead actors Gordon Kennedy and Robin Hill have terrific on-screen chemistry as a pair of skeptics investigating a Devon church said to be a hotbed for supernatural activity.

And even though there's a pointed slide into folk horror territory over the course of the film, that still doesn't prepare the audience for quite how shockingly, brilliantly off-piste The Borderlands goes in its barmy third act.

In the chilling final scene, it takes a hard-left into downright Lovecraftian territory, serving up a gnarly climactic twist that's executed in an impressively thrifty, budget-conscious way.

Regardless of what you think of the movie overall, there's absolutely no forgetting that ending.

 
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.