Despite the claim that it's "based on true events," Zev Berman's Borderland plays like a low rent cross between Hostel and Wolf Creek, the difference being it lacks the former's outrageous gore and the latter's attention to character. This is not to say the movie isn't gory, but considering it wants the audience to take it seriously, the kill scenes feel borderline campy. I'm frankly surprised Borderland earned so much enthusiasm when it premiered in last year's After Dark Horrorfest. If this is what passes for a compelling story then the future of horror movies is bleaker than I thought. The picture is set in a small Mexican town where, in the late 1980s, a local cult kidnapped and killed their countrymen as sacrifices to their god. The DVD has an interview with a Texas sheriff who investigated the disappearance of an American citizen who was one of the cult's victims, and his stories are both chilling and fascinating. However, instead of focusing on the issues pressed against a cop working outside of his jurisdiction, which could have been interesting, Berman takes the easy way out by setting his sights on three American college kids who cross the border looking for a good time and end up finding themselves in over their heads.
I guess the filmmakers felt like they had to cover familiar territory in order to attract a larger audience. Why else would they ditch a reasonably compelling piece of recent Mexican history for standard horror fare? The horrifying aspects of the murders should be what the movie is about, but instead they feel more like a backdrop for a lame revenge thriller. Borderland opens with two cops uncovering a house filled with weird ritual props, only to be taken hostage. One of them is tortured and killed and the other (Damian Alcazar) is let go so he can tell the police who mutilated his partner. Cut forward a year and the disgruntled cop is still seeking vengeance on the wackos but naturally, no one will take him seriously.
A stroke of good luck appears once three recent high school graduates hit town. Of course, before going to Mexico, there's the obligatory scene where they get drunk on the beach and talk about their futures, which is always a clear indication that they're not going to have one. Once across the border, they hit up the strip clubs and whore houses trying to get the virginal preacher's son (Rider Strong) laid. But he has morals, another reason he won't live, and sure enough, he's kidnapped by the cult and taken away to be cut up on the altar. The rest of the movie consists of his friends trying to find him, leading to several ridiculous altercations (translation: trash talking) between one of the cocky young Americans and the kidnappers. Not the best idea.
Like clockwork, the cop shows up to help them get their friend back, even though he's had a year to take the cult down himself. The fact he's failed to take action is no surprise, as nothing in Borderland makes any logical sense. The movie's biggest puzzle involves Valeria (the gorgeous Martha Higareda), a bartender who takes a liking to one of the boys. You'd think that after she sees what kind of trouble he and his friends are wrapped up in, she'd hot tail it away from them. Since the movie needs a pretty face around, she stays, even after her best friend is murdered by the cult (!). If that's not dedication, especially to someone she has barely known a day, than I don't know what is.
The bizarre casting award goes to Sean Astin, who inexplicably pops up to guard the cult's American prisoner. Why they chose this redneck outsider is beyond me, unless it was for his outspoken bloodlust (Astin talks in detail about his love for killin'!). If all the movie's dialogue is predictable and stupid, Astin's takes the cake, since he is given the sarcastic one liners. Aside from trying to be funny, the only other reason the character exists is to have another enemy to take down during the Climactic Showdown. This is the section of the movie where the heroes, who are held up in a house, must fend off their attackers from all directions.
It may be hard to fathom that the greatest offense committed by Borderland isn't that it's boring or by the numbers (I can't recall a single surprising moment). Nope, what truly sets this one below other bad movies in the genre is the idea that we're supposed to take it seriously. Even though this was the case, I kept trying to convince myself otherwise, particularly during the movie's hilarious key sacrifice scene, which tries to milk sympathy and terror out of showing both the victim and the slayer pray to their respective gods.
Aside from the occasional unintentional laughs, I couldn't find a single redeemable quality about Borderland. The movie's visual style is bland, as is its score, as are its performances. And the gore, which should be the highlight of a movie like this (especially if everything else sucks), is handled in a sorely unimaginative fashion. Given the acts themselves are pretty unnerving, the pure spectacle alone should be shocking but instead, it's a notch above, say, a community theater production. I wonder how the residents of Mexico feel about their country's participation in this picture, considering the viewpoint seems to be that Mexicans kill because they're all religious nutcases (and all the women are hookers or sluts, mostly when it comes to pleasing American men). That theory alone is no question the scariest element Borderland has to offer.
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