Thursday, January 22, 2009

Borderland (R-2007)

"Borderland" is a horror/torture movie in the tradition of "Hostel" and "Turistas". I might even go so far as to say this was better than either one of those films. As the movie opens, we are shown two Mexican police officers who are finding the site of a human sacrifice cult and are given a good feel for what this cult is capable of. We then jump to three American friends, Ed (Brian Presley), Phil (Rider Strong) and Henry (Jake Muxworthy), who are about to embark on a trip across the border as a last "fling" before they enter law school. The mix among the group is fairly typical: You have the party animal, anything goes guy, the level-headed guy and the sort of pathetic virginal guy. After spending a little time partying and looking for women, one of them falls into the clutches of this cult. When the others figure out where he is, they make it their mission to save him. Unlike "Hostel", neither the partying or the violence are over the top. This is a much more realistic, creepy film. Sean Astin, of "Lord of the Rings" fame, does an amazing job as a psychotic American who has hooked up with this cult to help indulge his thirst for violence. He makes it seem like some kind of "serial killer charm school". This is a compelling, believable horror film and a solid story. Although the point of the boys excursion into Mexico is to, uh, sample the local talent, there is almost no gratuitous sex (unlike "Hostel", which sets up the first half of the film as a borderline porn movie). The story is the thing and everything in the film supports that. Yes, there is gore, but it is not over the top and used only to further the horrific actions of this cult. The cult members are appropriately horrifying. This is a very good film.

Grade: B

Trailer:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That preview is pretty sick.

Why do they say Based on true events now with all this horror flicks (The Strangers). Is it really based on something or just based on what can happen if you ubducted in Mexico. I hate that prior to a movie unless it really is a true story.

Steve