Borderland (2007)

This is probably one of the more original ideas I've seen in a crime drama/horror film in a long time, but there were so many lingering questions that I have to wonder, "What was the real story?" For instance, why was the American, Sean Astin, on the side of the Mexican cultists? What did he have to gain? Since this film was based on a true story, I'll have to consider that the writer and director didn't have the time to tell the full story. Would have been nice, though, but probably would have been a four hour flick.Watching this film, I kept having this nagging suspicion that I'd seen it before. It seems like every film about Mexico uses the same locale, the same religious decorations, the same music, the same spineless police force, the same bustling street atmosphere, the same criminal element, the same senoritas, the same hotels, the same bars, the same cemeteries, the same farms and the same washed-out hue of the environs south of the American border. The movie is worth watching if, like me, you're a gore hound. It'll be 90 minutes well spent, if you're into that sort of thing.

The sepia toned cinematography in this movie captures expertly the surrealistic, bizarre, and disturbing landscape familiar to anyone who has found themselves running for their lives across it as a hapless tourista. Unflinching truth and unrelenting power is a cinema triumph. Zev Berman directed this essential and enlightening drama from a brilliant script co-penned with Eric Poppen. What they have accomplished with this important film is to expose the unholy dangers Americans face south of the border. Pulling no punches and depicting the horrors in Mexico in graphic detail, this is nothing less than essential viewing for tourists, especially the young who believe they are immortal. This is not a horror film but more a docudrama based in reality and truth. For anyone who has lost a friend or loved one to the violent, carnal, and vicious devil worshipers, drug cartels, and corrupt police of our neighbor down south, the experience of this film will be quite moving indeed. An outstanding cast give superb performances and demonstrate the overwhelming evil of those who prey on vulnerable, innocent victims with impunity. A vital film that serves to awaken a complacent nation to the terrible risks inherent in any senseless southern journey.

One of the most disturbing things about BORDERLAND is that the real life events upon which it's based are even MORE shocking than what's shown in the movie. (Which brought to mind the grisly WONDERLAND, with Val Kilmer as pornformer John Holmes: the actual crime scene video taken by the police in both cases is featured on the dvds. The horrors in the fictional versions pale by comparison.) BORDERLAND, in its depictions of depravity (which are, mercifully, brief), also calls to mind Charles Bowden's chronicle of narco carnage, the nonfiction book, MURDER CITY. Taken hand in hand, it's easy to equate one with the other. Read the book, see the movie; it's out there...

Borderland starts as three college buddies, Ed (Brian Presley), Phil (Rider Strong) & Henry (Jake Muxworthy) decide to head off to Mexico for a wild weekend of drink & women before going their separate ways as they leave school. The friends drive to a small Mexican border town where Ed meets a barmaid named Valeria (Martha Higareda) & Phil goes off with a prostitute. later that night they all meet again & Phil decides to go back to the hotel by himself but gets kidnapped on the street & driven off in a car. Waking up Phil finds himself tied up in a barn on a farm belonging to Mexican drug dealer Santillan (Beto Cuevas) & his cannibalistic cult of killers who worship him as some sort of God. Worried that Phil has gone missing Ed & Henry contact the Mexican police but they seem unwilling to help, together with Valeria & a old cop with a grudge against the cult they must go it alone in an attempt to save their friend...This Mexican & American co-production was written & directed by Zev Berman & according to the opening titles is 'Based on True Events' although I'd take that with a pinch of salt if I were you, available in an 'Unrated' version that is the one I will be basing my comments on. Just how much of Borderland is actually based on true events is anyone's guess, I personally have never heard of anything like this before & maybe the makers just say a tiny little piece in a newspaper with sketchy details & went from there making most of it up, who know's? Who cares? At almost an hour & fifty minutes long Borderland is easily thirty odd minutes too long, with a low body count & not much of a story Borderland drags badly & I can't really say I remember that much about it even though I only saw it a few hours ago. The character's are all unlikable, despite a few attempts at human drama the script is poor & the attempts to flesh the character's out go nowhere like the speech where Ed says he's not going to college when they get back, the cops warnings in the police station, the rambling speeches that the main bad guy has, the Mexican barmaid who serves no great purpose & just about everyone else barely make an impact. Despite being 'Unrated' the body count is low, just three good guy's & a few baddies right at the end & none of the kills are particularly memorable. Some of the dialogue is difficult to understand as various people speak in thick Mexican accents, I can't say the story grabbed me & as a whole it was fairly predictable as well with the now standard hero kills bad guy's & ends up with pretty girl routine at the climax.I must admit Borderland annoyed me, as well as being boring & not that gory the whole twitchy camera got on my nerves. While not as bad as some films where you can't see what's going on because of the excessive jerking of the camera Borderland features a camera that never stays still, it's always twitching & moving which just gets irritating. The film looks bland with bleached out colours, Borderland is just a unremarkable & colourless film. I was expecting a bit more gore here, there's a brief shot of a hand being sawn off, two plucked out eyeballs are seen (the eye's being taken out is not shown), there's a bit of blood splatter, a guy is stabbed with a machete in the shoulder, there are a few bullet wounds & a decapitated head but not much else.Actually filmed in Mexico on what was probably a low budget, the production values are alright but that twitchy moving camera got on my nerves as did the very washed out colour scheme used. The acting was alright, nothing to write home about or anything though.Borderland is another cheap horror film that thinks it's gorier & cleverer than it is, with little in the way of developed story or character's & an almost complete lack of gore along with the pedestrian pace means Borderland never gets going.