Movie Review

Borderland (R)

Mike Szymanski

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Hollywood.com Says
Based on a true story, the horrors of a satanic cult that kills people in Borderland is a slight cut above the rest.

Story
In the Hostel-esque scenario, Henry (Jake Muxworthy) and his virgin friend Phil (Rider Strong) are at a beach party in Galveston and convince their moody pal Ed (Brian Presley) to go on a road trip to a lawless Mexican border town where anything can happen. What happens is Ed forms an attached to a strong-willed bartender (Martha Higareda). After a night of decadence and doing mushrooms and going to a local carnival, Phil disappears. When the police seem rather uncooperative, a former cop Ulises (Damian Alacazar) tells them about a brutal cult leader/drug smuggler Santillan (Beto Cuevas), who is known for human sacrifices. Among his cult members are ruthless serial killers, Gustavo (Marco Bacuzzi) who likes to gouge people's eyes out, Luis (Roberto Sosa) who chops people's hands off, and Randall (Sean Astin) who murders people but has a sense of humor about it. Ed and Henry decide to help Ulises find their friend before he becomes the cult's "gringo sacrifice."

Acting
The three buddies do a nice job. As Henry, Muxworthy transforms from a renegade racist bully who looks down on the Mexican population to a whimpering coward who's terrified of the whole town. As Phil, Strong is effective as an innocent, well-meaning kid, filled with the fear of fire and brimstone from his religious upbringing. He faces the cult clan with bravery and realism. Presley makes a good leading man who takes things into his own hands after falling for a strange woman in a strange land. Higareda reminds you of Karen Allen from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Her character laments that "life that is not fully lived is very sad.” Cuevas as the cult leader is particularly chilling, especially when he reveals his full body tattoo while taking a bath after a human sacrifice. And Astin seems to relish this delicious role as a bad guy who comes off as friendly, with a great sense of humor--but he is ultimately as deadly as the rest.

Direction
Writer and director Zev Berman tries to bring a human side to the real story of the satanic cult and mass graves found in a Mexican border town. It made headlines in the early 1990s and still remains unsolved in some areas. It's gruesome and frightening, because of the helpless claustrophobic feel of the town that doesn't offer to help. Perhaps because of the constraints of the reality-based story, Borderland is also a bit predictable. The ending is perhaps the most disappointing, with the survivors simply walking off into the desert, while text rolls on the screen, telling you what really happened. Berman appropriately writes in a great deal of humor into a very gruesome situation, however, and those laughs make the film worthwhile.

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