an engaging, excellently paced, and a superbly filmed visceral crime movie with subtle supernatural overtones
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"Borderland" was a far better film than I could have ever hoped to have seen released by After Dark Films. It´s an engaging, excellently paced, and a superbly filmed visceral crime movie with subtle supernatural overtones. It is significantly better than all but one of the other eight films included in the now annual After Dark Horrorfest, and it´s unfortunate that its title will become synonymous with lesser films like "Nightmare Man" and "Crazy Eights." With a style more akin to the gritty guerilla filming format reminiscent of recent Tony Scott films ("Man on Fire") and FX´s "The Shield," "Borderland" may miss its chance to be seen by an appreciative audience by being associated with the cheesy "8 Films to Die For" tagline.
"Borderland" is based on the true 1989 story of an American citizen who was kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel and had his body parts used for archaic rituals. The film starts off fast and hard with two Mexican detectives investigating the cartel cult. One is captured, horrifically tortured, and ritualistically murdered as the other cop is forced to watch and left as a living, breathing warning to anyone else foolish enough to investigate them. We are then introduced to a trio of college buddies who come to do some partying in the villages that lay between the American and Mexican border. These small towns are notoriously lawless, which is exactly why they come here to find prostitutes, drugs, and copious amounts of alcohol. After befriending a couple of the local ladies, the group heads to a carnival, eats a bunch of psychedelic mushrooms, and sets in motion a night they will never forget. One of the friends, Phil (Rider Strong), makes the common mistake of a group drug trip: He leaves the group. On his way to meet up with a local whore that he´s taken a shine to, Phil is accosted by members of the cartel, and in his fragile state is convinced to get in a car with the men. From there, Phil encounters a trip far worse than anything he could have experienced on his mouthful of ´shrooms.
Everything about "Borderland" is exceptional. From the well-throught-out script to the believable acting, it´s essentially everything that almost any other film that´s ever been involved with After Dark films is not; it has quality. The film consistently surprised me; every time I thought it was going to slip into a comfortable place as the Mexican "Hostel," it went out of its way to evolve into something else entirely. While the slight comparisons between Eli Roth´s torture-filled film is just as accurate as a connection between "Borderland" and the gritty terror showcased by "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," writer/director Zev Berman never takes the easy way out. The similarities are there, but by maintaining a constantly evolving storyline and giving his actors well-defined character traits, he keeps the film moving along without ever trailing off into copycat territory.
Concrete proof that Berman is just starting off on his road towards being an influential filmmaker can be found in his use of actor Sean Astin. Best known as either Rudy (as in RUDY! RUDY! RUDY!) or Samwise Gamgee from the "Walk of the Rings," Astin is cast as Randall, the menacing sole American member of the drug cult. I´ve always considered Astin a forgettable actor who more-or-less existed in the shadow of his father, the wonderful John Astin from "The Addams Family." But "Borderland" really gives him a chance to break out of the "nice guy/hobbit" roles he´s been pigeonholed into. Astin gives a chilling performance as a morally devoid killer who takes no shame in the horrible things his does for money or to cure his boredom. The acting in "Borderland" is nothing short of exceptional, and Astin is just one of the highlights of a great cast.
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