"Borderland" belongs in the category of the nowadays indescribably popular "torture-porn" movies, along with titles such as "Hostel", "Saw", "Live Feed", "Blood Trails", etc
This basically means they are excessively gross but nonsensical and forgettable films without a plot or amiable characters. But for some reason this one left an aftertaste in my mouth that is far more sour than usual. It's not a particularly good film, but it implements a truly unsettling atmosphere as well as an almost unequaled nihilistic narrative style. Perhaps this has to do with the fact "Borderland" is inspired by true events, namely the discovery of a mass grave just across the Mexican border and filled with victims of a satanic cult who had their brains and spine columns removed. The wraparound story of the three American guys may be fictional, but the ritual sacrifices of the cult are supposedly truthful and that is more than enough reason to label this as one of the most disturbing movies of the past couple of years. The opening ten minutes are particularly grim, cold and distant, showing two Mexican cops busting into an abandoned house in search of the cult's fugitive leader. One of the cops is submitted to severe torture including removal of the eyeballs whilst the other one is forced to watch. It's definitely an intro that counts and grabs your attention, to say the least. The next few chapters are more typical and clichéd horror stuff, with a trio of hormone-driven guys crossing the Mexican border with only booze, drugs, parties and sexy women on their minds. One of them naturally gets kidnapped by members of the cult and his only remaining purpose is to serve as the next sacrifice to their bizarre God. The two remaining friends, and a randomly picked up Mexican hottie, combine forces with the survivor cop from the intro. The majority of the film is actually very mundane, simplistic and even on the verge of being really boring! There also isn't much suspense, background information or character development
There's nothing extraordinary going on here, except relentless and genuinely shocking brutality. But hey, the lack of creativity is at least widely compensated by the dark ambiance and the grueling scenery. And multiple moments of extremely graphical content, of course! There's one integrally shown sequence, for example, in which at least seven or eight cult members club someone to death using meat cleavers, baseball bats and large butcher's knives. It's definitely not a film intended for the squeamish and/or people with a sensitive stomach. Most curious aspect is perhaps that Sean Astin, who gained name-fame and glory since the Lords of the Rings trilogy, stars in a truly inglorious role of loathsome disciple in service of the Mexican cult. Bizarre career move, if you ask me...
Review of Borderland
