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‘Grips, twists, jostles and pokes… queasy hints of Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, Kill List and Peep Show… punchy, funny, scary… a fantastically unnerving location’

★★★★

The Guardian

‘A smart, funny and genuinely spooky movie’

The Times

‘The script is witty, the cast are simply terrific… a spiky, intelligent little throat-grabber’

Time Out

Say your prayers as writer-director Elliot Goldner’s chiller The Borderlands is set to strike fear into your very soul, as this acclaimed British horror classic comes to Limited Edition Blu-ray from Second Sight Films. The brand-new set comes complete with a host of fascinating special features, it is also available in a Standard Edition Blu-ray.

When frequent strange happenings are reported at a thirteenth century church in rural Devon, a small team of Vatican investigators are sent in to try and demystify the unusual goings on… But what they discover is more disturbing than they could ever imagine.

Before unleashing a cruel fate upon its characters — one of the worst in recent horror memory — The Borderlands leads the audience down a different path, insensibly alluding to what all lies ahead. The plot breadcrumbs of Elliot Goldner’s 2013 film are only more discernible after the fact. Until that momentous reveal, this plays out as a standard story of believers and nonbelievers investigating the religious unknown and finding more than they ever thought possible. What these unfortunate souls unearth is deeply disturbing.

Renamed Final Prayer in some parts, this British film has grown steadily in renown despite its small beginnings. Recently, Guillermo del Toro put The Borderlands on more radars; the popular filmmaker deemed it an “unknown gem.” Even before obtaining such a great endorsement, Goldner’s first feature (his only one to date) was applauded for its approach to first-person and folk-horror storytelling. More high praise: The Borderlands has...

Mrs. Sidhu Investigates looks set to be an engaging mystery series with a comedic lick of humor.

The new drama series, headlined by Meera Syal, premieres Monday, September 18, on Acorn TV.

TV Fanatic scored an exclusive first look at the series premiere in which Mrs Sidhu goes up against Dci Burton (Craig Parkinson).

Mrs. Sidhu, a caterer with a taste for solving crimes, is shocked when her niece, Rani, is taken away for questioning after some incriminating evidence.

All of this happens on Mrs. Sidhu's first day catering at Sharpetone, a high-end health club.

Things take a shocking turn when two bodies are found inside the spa.

Initially, Mrs. Sidhu is far more concerned with staying out of the drama until her niece is hauled in for questioning.

Mrs. Sidhu poses plenty of questions to Burton, who is taken aback at the fact that he should be asking the questions.

Acorn TV has been killing it with its mystery dramas filmed across the pond, and its latest looks like another murder-filled winner.

The streaming service has shared a promo of the series premiere of Mrs Sidhu Investigates, and let's say we're hungry for more.

Mrs. Sidhu Investigates stars Meera Syal, Gurjeet Singh (Ackley Bridge), Craig Parkinson, and Naana Agyei-Ampadu (Death in Paradise).

Mrs Sidhu Investigates follows Mrs. Sidhu (Syal), a high-end caterer with a taste for crime who solves murders and other ghastly crimes amongst the affluent residents of Berkshire.

A lifetime of being an "Indian Aunty," invisible to the elite, has sharpened her skills as an investigator: an instinct for truth, a warmth with people and a persistent sense of nosiness.

Recently widowed, Mrs. Sidhu juggles her new catering business with wrangling her wayward son, Tez (Singh), all while serving up justice to those who believe they are above the law.

Exclusive: Line of Duty star Craig Parkinson, Gurjeet Singh (Ackley Bridge) and Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Death in Paradise are joining Acorn TV’s four-part mystery drama Mrs Sidhu Investigates. Meera Syal is fronting the four-part series as a crime-solving Indian chef, having voiced the eponymous sleuth in a popular BBC Radio 4 series of the same name.

The series, created by Suk Pannu, will follow Mrs Sidhu (Syal), a recently widowed high-end caterer who solves murders and other crimes among the affluent residents of the English county of Berkshire.

She uses a lifetime as an ‘Indian Aunty’ to sharpen her skills as an investigator, while juggling her new catering business with wrangling with her wayward son Tez, played by Gurjeet Singh (Ackley Bridge). She forms an unofficial partnership with world weary police office Dci Burton, much to the amusement...

Julien’s Auctions recently launched the exclusive, online charity auction Handwritten Song Lyrics Benefitting Music Health Alliance at juliensauctions.com for advance bidding.

The auction will start closing in real time and in lot order for live bidding at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on Monday, November 9th, 2020. Proceeds will benefit Music Health Alliance’s Covid-19 Relief Plan, which was created to provide direct support for immediate needs of music industry professionals and their families during this public health crisis where many have lost their incomes.

The auction house to the stars partnered with a who’s who of the greatest singers and songwriters of the 20th and 21st century, spanning pop, rock, country, blues/jazz, americana, and gospel music, who personally donated handwritten lyrics of some of their most classic and famous hits to the initiative.

Highlighted handwritten song lyrics signed by the songwriter and/or recording artist include...

It’s been nearly a week since a series of tornadoes struck the Nashville area on March 3rd, causing widespread damage in the city’s densely populated neighborhoods — including the destruction of beloved music venue the Basement East — and killing more than two dozen people in the surrounding area. Volunteers have been working overtime to clear streets and yards or bring food and other necessities to affected areas, but it’s going to be a long road to recover and rebuild.

One of Nashville’s greatest, most plentiful resources is its deep well of talent,...

Stars: James Robinson, Maggie Bain, Jim Sturgeon, Siobhan Redmond, Gordon Kennedy, Corin Edgar Robert | Written by Geoff Dupuy-Holder, Alistair Rutherford | Directed by Magnus Wake

The feature debut of Scottish director Magnus Wake, Dark Sense is adapted from the First and Only, the best-selling novel by Peter Flannery. Unfortunately, whatever virtues the novel possessed have been rather lost in its translation to the screen, resulting in a supernatural thriller that fails to convince on a number of levels.

Set in present-day Edinburgh, the plot begins with young Simon (Corin Edgar Robert) experiencing a terrifying vision of a murderer killing a local priest. Arriving too late to stop the crime, Simon is traumatised, which blocks his psychic powers. However, years later, an older Simon (now played by Shane O’Meara) experiences another terrifying vision, this time of his own death at the hands of a serial killer wearing a black mask.

With...

IFC released the U.S. trailer for "Tank 432", which arrives on VOD November 25th. Directed by Nick Gillespie, the thriller about a band of mercenary soldiers battling to escape a mysterious, unseen enemy. Rupert Evans, Steve Garry, Deirdre Mullins, Michael Smiley and Gordon Kennedy are starring. Described as "Dog Soldiers" meets "Jacob's Ladder", "Tank 432" was executive produced by Ben Wheatley, director of the great "Kill List" or the upcoming "High-rise". On the run and with nowhere to hide, a group of soldiers and their two prisoners take cover from a mysterious enemy inside an abandoned military war tank. Whilst they try to keep the forces outside at bay, secrets are uncovered and little do they realise the real enemy is already among them, locked inside Tank 432....

"Trapped inside here, but at least we're alive." IFC Midnight has debuted an official Us trailer for a horror thriller titled Tank 432, directed by Nick Gillespie, and executive produced by filmmaker Ben Wheatley. This first premiered at FrightFest in the UK last year but is only now finally a release. At this point, there's almost an entire subgenre of takes-place-inside-a-tank films, between Fury and Clash. Tank 432 also takes place inside a tank, but it's a bit different - with more of an apocalyptic horror angle. Starring Rupert Evans, Steve Garry, Deirdre Mullins, Michael Smiley, Gordon Kennedy, April Pearson. This was previously titled Belly of the Bulldog, and is described as a "mind-bending plunge into hallucinatory terror." Here's the official Us trailer (+ poster) for Nick Gillespie's Tank 432, direct from YouTube (via Tfs): Under siege by a mysterious enemy in an apocalyptic, war-torn landscape, a band of mercenary soldiers, hooded hostages in tow,...

Director Ben Wheatley is showing his eye for talent by putting his name behind a guy who’s worked closely with him since 2011’s Kill List. A filmmaker in his own right, camera operator Nick Gillespie has stayed by Wheatley’s side on every subsequent project up to and including the forthcoming Free Fire. This time around it’s he who’s providing the claustrophobic thriller as writer and director of Tank 432 (formerly known as Belly of the Bulldog). It’s a doozy too—all mood, atmosphere, and mystery with our own confusion about the action mirrored in those onscreen. All they know is that they have orders. Extract their prisoners, survive the war, and write everything down. But while they know what to do, the why seems universally out of reach.

Think The Maze Runner, but for adults. I’m not saying The Maze Runner is specifically for children,...

Exclusive: UK deal secured for Nick Gillespie’s psychological thriller Belly Of The Bulldog.

Kaleidoscope has picked up UK rights to Belly Of The Bulldog.

Nick Gillespie’s feature debut was executive produced by High-Rise director Ben Wheatley, who provided creative guidance throughout. Gillespie has worked alongside Wheatley over the past seven years on projects from Kill List to the upcoming Free Fire.

“We’ve capture some of the most explosive sequences I could ever of hoped for, and having Ben involved from script stage has really helped these elements come together,” said Gillespie.

“We really got our hands dirty filming this one, cutting the sides off real tanks, running people over with tanks, setting people’s heads on fire, and things like that. It was a real challenge but we did it.”

Produced by Finn Bruce and Jen Handorf, Belly Of The Bulldog follows a group of mercenaries and their human cargo, all of whom...

Exclusive: UK deal secured for Nick Gillespie’s psychological thriller Belly Of The Bulldog.

Kaleidoscope has picked up UK rights to Belly Of The Bulldog.

Nick Gillespie’s feature debut was executive produced by Ben Wheatley, who provided creative guidance throughout. Gillespie has worked alongside Wheatley over the past seven years on projects from Kill List to the upcoming Free Fire.

“We’ve capture some of the most explosive sequences I could ever of hoped for, and having Ben involved from script stage has really helped these elements come together,” commented Gillespie.

“We really got our hands dirty filming this one, cutting the sides off real tanks, running people over with tanks, setting people’s heads on fire, and things like that. It was a real challenge but we did it.”

Produced by Finn Bruce and Jen Handorf, Belly Of The Bulldog follows a group of mercenaries and their human cargo, all of whom...

The Horror Network anthology, directed by some of the horror genre's newest talents, will arrive on DVD and VOD on October 27th. Also in this round-up: details on the Film4 FrightFest Halloween event and a clip from the zombie film 6:15.

The Horror Network: Press Release: "New York, NY - Wild Eye Releasing has set loose the latest entry in the horror anthology genre, The Horror Network. Created by Brian Dorton and Douglas Conner, this first volume of terror tales features segments directed by Dorton, Conner, Joseph Graham, Manuel Marín, Lee Matthews and Ignacio Martín Lerma, the series has been hailed as "a collection of nightmares that scream for all horror fans to see." The film will be available on DVD and VOD October 27th.

Serial killers, ghostly phone calls, inner demons, otherworld monsters and creepy stalkers collide in this frightening anthology. Six of horror's most promising new directing talents...

Film4 FrightFest has announced their line-up for their big Halloween 2015 event with James Purefoy and Olga Kurylenko leading the guest line-up. The line-up includes a totally shocking threequel, a haunted house of horrors, demonic possession, claustrophobic tank terror, a head-spinning brutal thriller and a secret screening.

The Film4 FrightFest Halloween event is back at the Prince Charles Cinema on Saturday 24 Oct with six brand new movies, including two World premieres, a European and two UK premieres. This year’s Shockathon kicks off at 11am with the surprise movies which guarantees a sci-fi cocktail of weird creatures, crude humour and hilarious action. Here is the press release:

Next up is the UK Premiere of The Vatican Tapes, a dynamic, unusual and thrilling exorcism shocker by Crank director Mark Neveldine. This is followed by the World Premiere of The Unspoken, a chill-orientated sinister ghost story with an insidious sting in its tale.

Cult sketch show Absolutely will be making a comeback on the radio.

The team behind the 1990s comedy series will record four brand new half-hour episodes on BBC Radio 4 to air from September 6.

Gordon Kennedy, Morwenna Banks, Pete Baikie, Moray Hunter and John Sparkes will perform new material, though Jack Docherty will not be reuniting with his former castmates.

Several popular characters from the Channel 4 show will return, including Calum, Denzil and Gwynedd, The Little Girl and the Stoneybridge Town Council.

The largely Scottish group have promised fans "something old (us), something new (the sketches), nothing borrowed (as far as we know) and nothing blue (although some of it is quite surprisingly rude)".

The team previously reunited for Radio 4's Sketchorama strand in 2013, winning them a BBC Audio Drama award.

Executive producer Gus Beattie said: "The Absolutely team did an amazing job updating their much-loved characters for the Sketchorama show,...

A three-man team of Vatican investigators - veteran myth-debunker Deacon (Gordon Kennedy), pious priest Mark (Aidan McCardle) and mouthy geek (Robin Hill) - are sent to a remote Devon church to probe reports of paranormal activity during a Christening. They suspect that the strange occurrences are the work of the young priest... but then they start discovering forces far darker.

Review Gem Wheeler 27 Apr 2014 - 19:42

Endeavour wraps up its second series with this impressive episode. Here's Gem's review...

This review contains spoilers.

2.4 Neverland

All Arthur’s knights were brought down by earthly vices in the end: Lancelot by desire, Gawain by his pride and anger. Even the best of men had their price – all save one, Galahad. His destiny was to find the Grail, and to die as soon as he did so. No ties of love or family could bind him to this world for long. He saw men’s deeds with an outsider’s eye, and paid the outsider’s price in loneliness for doing so. It was the path forecast for him before his birth; there was none other open to him.

How appropriate, then, to be reminded of Galahad as we observe Morse at worship in the opening scenes of Neverland, the devastating final episode...

Review Ryan Lambie 28 Mar 2014 - 09:12

Rural Devon's the setting for the off-beat found-footage horror, The Borderlands. Here's Ryan's review...

Theoretically, anyone with a camera and a few friends can make a found-footage horror movie. But as countless lesser examples of the sub-genre have proved in the past, it’s relatively easy to point a wobbling camera at people stumbling about in a dark room, and far more difficult to make the resulting footage scary or entertaining to watch. The Borderlands, the feature debut from British director Elliot Goldner, includes all the shaky-cam hallmarks you’d expect, but thanks to some great writing and a trio of off-beat characters, it manages to stand out from the supernatural horror crowd.

In a small cottage in rural Devon, self-confessed tech geek Gray (frequent Ben Wheatley collaborator Robin Hill) busily straps cameras to both himself and just about every room in the quaint little building.

Low-budget British indie finds absolutely nothing new in the supposedly spooky found-footage subgenre, unless all the typical haunted-house frights occurring in a church counts. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Did you know that supernatural activity messes with videocameras, causes them to go all wonky and record distorted images and weird digital static? Of course you did, because every single found-footage flick that’s about people recording supernatural activity — which is somewhere around 98 percent of them — has featured such ostensible video “evidence.” First-time writer and director Elliot Goldner finds absolutely nothing new in this supposedly spooky subgenre… beyond lobbing his characters into a “crazy” ending that would appear to ensure that the footage they are recording — the footage that we are watching — may never actually be, you know, found. Vatican investigators Deacon (Gordon Kennedy) and...

A three-man team of Vatican investigators - veteran myth-debunker Deacon (Gordon Kennedy), pious priest Mark (Aidan McCardle) and mouthy geek (Robin Hill) - are sent to a remote Devon church to probe reports of paranormal activity during a Christening. They suspect that the strange occurrences are the work of the young priest... but then they start discovering forces far darker.

Stars: Gordon Kennedy, Robin Hill, Luke Neal, Aidan McArdle, Sarah Annis, Lee Arnold, Patrick Godfrey, Marcus Cunningham | Written and Directed by Elliot Goldner

Elliot Goldner directs this British horror following a team of specialists from the Vatican who are drawn to a remote West Country church by reports of mysterious occurrences in the area.

The Borderlands sees a deacon from the Catholic Church (Gordon Kennedy) and a sound engineer (Robin Hill) dispatched to a small and ancient church in rural England to verify the claims of miraculous occurrences. Though Father Crellick (Luke Neal) has video footage of items apparently being moved around inside the church by supernatural forces, the deacon is a sceptic by nature and wants more conclusive evidence. He is later joined by another church official (Aidan McArdle) as shit goes from mysterious to frightening to crazy. They duly set up more cameras inside the ancient building, but...

While many are quick to note that "we've had enough found footage horror for right now, thank you very much," those of us who watch a ton of indie films may take solace in the fact that, hey, at least we're out of the woods now. Literally. While most of the micro-budget hand-held horror films have taken place deep in the woods (because forests are creepy, especially at night) or houses deep in the woods, there are some new arrivals that bring the soon-to-be-found footage out of the wilderness and into, well, the church.

  The new indie thriller entitled Daylight manages to combine found footage with religion-based occult horror in rather fine fashion, and the (also new) UK import known as The Borderlands does it even better. If you're a fan of the "faux documentary" horror approach but you're looking for a slightly new take on the format, The Borderlands...

Mayhem Film Festival returns to Broadway on 31st October for four days of horror-tinged screenings, previews and guests. The festival opens this year with internationally-acclaimed British director Nicolas Roeg who will be presenting his most recent film Puffball as well as taking part in a very special screening of his masterpiece Don’t Look Now in the eerie settings of St Mary’s Church in the Lace Market.

Other special guests for the festival include American Director Brian Netto who will be presenting Delivery, The Borderlands Director Elliot Goldner and Producer Jennifer Handorf, and director Caradog James and Producer John Giwa-Amu for hi-tech British dark sci-fi The Machine. Mayhem are also hosting a special BAFTA screening of Jeremy Lovering’s In Fear which follows a young couple being tormented while driving in the countryside.

With a total of 17 screenings, Mayhem will present their first silent film screening, Tod Browning’s...

Opening Night and Saturday

Frightfest 2013 opened on Thursday evening with Howard and John Ford’s The Dead 2: India, a sequel to their previous Africa-set zombie flick. To be honest, it wasn’t the most auspicious start to the weekend. A zombie epidemic reaches the Asian subcontinent and American engineer Nicholas (Joseph Millson) attempts to cross the country to reunite with his Indian girlfriend Ishani (Meenu Mishra), aided only by plucky orphan boy Javed (Anand Gopal). I didn’t catch The Dead, so the novelty of watching a Zombie film set anywhere other than Middle America (or Crouch End) was not lost on me.

The various locations around rural India are occasionally used rather well. Nicolas’s introductory scene is a slow pull out from extreme close up to a panoramic shot of him dangling from a wind turbine, which works really well and there several nicely implemented vistas. Much...

From the press release:

Are you ready for a spine-chilling global avalanche of Indian zombies, Israeli oldboys, vengeance-crazed Vikings, Swedish mesmerists, Irish telekinesis, Argentine undead, Aussie bone-crushers, murderous Mormons and Chilean assassins?

Film4 FrightFest 2013, returning for its 4teenth year, has unveiled its biggest line-up in history. From Thurs 22 August to Monday 26 August, the UK’s leading event for genre fans will be at the Empire Cinema in London’s Leicester Square to present 51 films on three screens. Empire 1 will house the main event while the Discovery strands will play in Empires 2 & 4. The new FrightFest Xtra strand, also in Screen 2, will allow fans to catch up with sold-out performances of the most popular attractions.

This year there are eleven countries representing five continents with a record-breaking thirty-three UK or European premieres and ten world premieres.

The world premieres include our opening night attraction The Dead 2: India from the Ford Brothers,...

After last week’s lewd adventure Sherlock was back in familiar territory this week with an intriguing mystery involving a government backed scientific research center. This modern take on the Hounds of the Baskerville didn’t feature the manor house that we’ve seen in countless other dramatizations of the story. As far as I am concerned the lack of a manor house was good thing because it’s about time that someone offered us a new take on this beloved classic.

The Hounds of the Baskerville. co. BBC

Fans of British TV shows such as Mi5 will know that the folks in England love blaming everything bad that happens on the C.I.A. I had a sneaky feeling that we were heading in that direction in this episode but I was hoping that Mark Gatiss would take the story in a different direction. Sadly not, but replacing real...

Red Faction: Origins follows the children of rebel hero Alec Mason, set during a period between the Red Faction Guerrilla and Red Faction Armageddon video games. Stars: Robert Patrick, Brian J. Smith, Danielle Nicolet, Tamzin Merchant, Devon Graye, Gareth David-Lloyd, Tamer Hassan, Gordon Kennedy, and Kate Vernon. LEEE777 - Airs Saturday, June 4 on Syfy and liking the pictures a lot, hows about you?...

You don't need to be British to know what makes for silly Saturday evening TV on that nation's major networks. If you are familiar with Doctor Who and Primeval, you'll have a pretty good idea. Both of those shows are admirable for their high production values and a winning combination of imagination, energy, comedy and drama. Yet, they make a virtue out of daft characters and stretching credibility to its limits. Those same qualities can also be found in the BBC's Robin Hood. The series ran for three seasons in the time slot reserved for Doctor Who. Although it isn't sci-fi, it has no shortage of fantasy, at least of the strained credibility kind.  This is family entertainment for British Saturday evening tea-times. It's straight out of the best tradition of British comics: adventurous nonsense and all the more fun for it.

The emphasis in this version of Robin Hood is on youthful exuberance.

Chicago – It’s an old-fashioned phrase for an old-fashioned show but the one I keep thinking of regarding BBC’s incredibly enjoyable “Robin Hood,” the third season of which is now on DVD, is “rollicking entertainment”. Whatever that means to you, “Robin Hood” is it. This show is an entertaining blast, made even more so by a dark streak in the excellent third season.

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

Continuing to find new ways to update the legend of “Robin Hood” for a new generation, the writers of this BBC America manage to keep the spirit of what we all know and love about the legend of Sherwood Forest intact while also making it feel fresh and new at the same time. It’s one of those pieces of entertainment that’s harder to pull off than it looks. They make it look easy. It’s not.

The third season of “Robin Hood...

BBC’s retelling of the Robin Hood legend began in 2006 and quietly ended in 2009, never quite living up to the hype and expectations. The series was incredibly anachronistic and its budgetary limitations were clearly evident throughout its 36 episodes. When the series was good, it was highly entertaining and when it was less good, it was tolerable.

BBC Video has just released the third season on DVD in the states so if you missed it on BBC America, here’s your chance to see for yourself how it all wrapped up.

The series began teetering during its second season, especially when Lucy Griffiths chose to leave the show and they killed Maid Marian, making for a major departure from the legend. Then we heard that Robin himself, Jonas Armstrong, announced he was leaving after the third season. As a result, we began hearing them all chant “We are Robin Hood”, setting...

Chicago – BBC America’s excellent “Robin Hood” returns tonight, September 12th, with the start of what looks to be a much darker, more intense season of the hit show. Continuing to update the legend for a new generation, the writers of this edition of “Robin Hood” find clever ways to keep the spirit of classic incarnations of the timeless hero intact while making it feel fresh and new at the same time.

Television Rating: 3.5/5.0 The third season of “Robin Hood” starts on an undeniably dark note, hinting at a more complex season of the show than the more light-hearted first two. The question in the season premiere seems to be “How can a man who has spent his whole life giving continue to do so when he loses all reason to care?”

(l to r) Kate (Joanne Froggatt), Robin Hood (Jonas Armstrong) and Tuck (David Harewood).

Photo credit: Tiger Aspect...