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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Zev Berman
Brian Presley (Home of the Brave)
Jake Muxworthy (Born Killers)
Rider Strong (Cabin Fever)
Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King)
Supplied By : Lionsgate Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : March. 18, 2008
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| PLOT When three Texas University students travel to a Mexican border town on the eve of their graduation, the last thing they expect to face is an ancient blood cult hell-bent on finding candidates for human sacrifice. |
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| THE REVIEW It's that time of year again, time to review the "8 Films to Die For", from the AFTER DARK HORRORFEST. 2007 served us 8 more films, all which look to be a variety of different Horrors - I start my coverage with the cannibal flick called BORDERLAND. BORDERLAND tells the story of 3 college friends from the university of Texas, who decide to go to Mexico just before graduation to have a little fun and to see what Mexico has to offer...including it's women. Women are what the girls find, but when one of them goes missing, the fun stops for the remaining to as they begin a search for their friend, who seems to have vanished mysteriously. While searching they have an altercation with a few locals, which turns violent, and afterwards is when they meet Ulises a Police Officer who has had it rough for the last year. The year prior, Ulises and a fellow cop stumbled across and old house during an investigation and when they went inside, they found that the house wasn't unoccupied as they initially thought, and that an evil cult and it's members were lying in wait. On that day, Ulises witnessed them brutally murdering his partner and friend before his very eyes, and since then he has been on a vigilante mission to bring down the cult. He tells Ed and Henry that he has witnessed their friend Phil in the cult's hands, and that they must do something before it's too late, and Phil becomes the American sacrifice the cult has been long searched for. Just a quick glance over the above plot would probably give off the impression of just another HOSTEL that takes place in a different location, this time it being Mexico. To be perfectly honest with you, that's basically what it is, as the plot isn't all too original, but we should all be used to this by now, as it is starting to become standard routine within the Horror genre. The differences between HOSTEL and BORDERLAND is that in BORDERLAND there is far less over the top torture and more realism. Sure, HOSTEL may have been somewhat realistic, but let's face it. it really pours it on abundantly. I found BORDERLAND to be more on the "real" side of the spectrum, as everything here occurs at a pace that something like this in real life would happen - you don't necessarily have dead bodies(and parts) flying around here every five minutes. This is yet another film that touts itself as being based on a true story, and unlike many, BORDERLAND actually appears to be best on a real true story of a medical student from the University, whom unfortunately met a similar fate. I don't know the details for I won't speculate on the true events, because I am unsure, and being inaccurate would be disrespectful - but i'm sure a little researching(which I didn't do beforehand) would find something. As for the film, at first I had low expectations for this film overall, because it does indeed start off at a really slow start, almost to the point where I nearly labeled this one a snoozefest instead of anything resembling a Horrorfest. It does take BORDERLAND i'd say, about 45 minutes to really start moving forward, but when it finally picks up, it's quite a story. For the last portion of the film, it feels much like a real situation, this is do to both realistic acting and realistic effect, helmed by KNB EFX, whom as still on their game, but this time it wasn't overdone - which for this particular film, that's a good thing. The acting here is above average, especially by our stars; Brian Presley, Jake Muxworthy and Rider Strong. Even though he above the age(well they all are), I thought Rider Strong looked just barely of Freshman level in High School, let alone College(for some reason he looked young in this movie, he delivers another good performance here. But truly the film's balance ultimately rests on the performance of Brian Presley, whom has a strong showing here, which was both realistic and believable. In the end, I would've rated BORDERLAND even higher if at lest half of the first portion of the film would've matched the intensity and suspense of the last - the first half hour or so is kind of a drag, but as I mentioned, it does pick up overall, making the remainder of the film purely enjoyable. |
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| GORE
METER 6/10 We have eyes gouged out, body parts severed and chopped, decapitations, and a little bit of overkill. It's not really overdone, but done in a more realistic manner. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3.5/10 The sore had some suspenseful tunes as well as some occasional Mexican style tunes to blend in with the film's scenery. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM BORDERLAND was a film that I first lost hope in as at first, it didn't have my interest, but this is definite proof, that in some cases, you should never give up on a movie. Waiting for BORDERLAND really paid off as the final acts of the film make it worth it. But still, I have seen many people rate this film much higher than I have, I am caught in between as I can't see myself going any higher, as it has it's flaws(i.e. the pacing at the beginning) but I did enjoy the film. BORDERLAND is bound to become a guilty pleasure favorite, it's not perfect, we've seen it all before, it's somewhat slow....yet it is still likely one you'll surely revisit. |
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